Vienna Two
by KatPeeta23
Summary: This is the sequel to Vienna. Katniss runs into Peeta, Finnick and Gale at a lodge on the side of a mountain in her tiny town twenty minutes away from her house. She is on a night out with Annie, Madge, Reed, and Johanna. Katniss thought she'd never see those beautiful blue eyes again. She thought wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I have to correct myself about that whole thing in the last chapter of Vienna when Katniss said she was over almost being raped. What I meant by that is she is over it as in she can sleep through the night without waking up screaming and she isn't afraid to go out alone. Obviously she's still scarred from it. You can't just not get over nearly being raped to death. So, I didn't mean she was over it as in she isn't scared or anything, I just meant she isn't afraid to go out alone and she can sleep through the night. Obviously she'll still have nightmares, too occasionally and she has trouble about people she doesn't know especially men.**

It's so cold and windy and I know why the fuck Johanna thought it was a good idea to go _hiking_ up a mountain in dead winter without any supplies. Reed and Jo are so happy together. They're engaged and they look at each other like they're the only two people in the world.

Fuck, I'm happy for them, really, I am, but _oh my god,_ it's disgusting.

They're holding hands and they're laughing and leaning on each other and mumbling with each other about how they love each other.

It's _sick_.

It's funny, actually. About four years ago it as the exact opposite. I was in love with Peeta and we were all over each other and all that and we were convinced we were going to get married and Johanna hated relationships and everything.

Now here I am, twenty five years old, single, lonely, sick of romance, terrified of men I don't know, and alone. And, to add to it, I don't even have a sex toy, I live with Madge and Annie, and my vagina practically has a fucking never-ending cobweb now.

Hell, it's been four years. The only thing that's gone up there to rid of the web is a fucking tampon, and that gives no sexual relief whatsoever.

"This is nasty to watch." Annie mumbles under her breath. "I never should've broken up with Finn."

"I should've stayed with Peeta." I hiss. "The only reason we broke up was because there's where work was for him. If you don't have work, you don't have life. Fuck money. Fuck everything. Peeta had no choice but to stay. That's where work was."

"I know." Annie hisses. "Same with Finn."

"And Gale." Madge makes her eleventh snowball and pegs it at a nearby skier. "They're so damn annoying. Why can't they ski somewhere else?"

I don't say anything.

Johanna and my brother share another kiss, and this time, Madge's snowball hits them.

"Fuck you Undersee. Don't get all over me because you left Gale!"

We keep hiking up the mountain.

Four people come skiing right towards me.

"Sorry!" one of them swerves around me and they're going to fast that I can't even see their faces.

"Fuck you!" I shout.

"He said sorry!" one boy shouts back at me.

"Fuck you too, asshole!" I scream down the mountain at him.

It's so cold and bitter outside and it's starting to snow really badly.

"Let's go back." Reed decides. "This could be dangerous."

We walk halfway down the mountain and get on the ski lift to take us to the bottom.

Johanna and Reed go to the ski lodge and they're _giggling_ as they enter their hotel room.

We stand outside for a minute, and then the moaning starts. I hit the door really hard and storm down to my hotel room with Annie and Madge and go inside and slam the door.

I take a hot shower. It's already seven at night so I just order room service and start 13 Going On 30. That's my damn movie. Madge and Annie watch it with me all the time because they love it as much as I do, and we've watched it so many times that we can quote it.

We eat out dinner and the girls fall asleep.

Around nine, the movie ends and then I click on the criminal shows.

Of course the one on is about a girl who get raped and killed and it shows the bruises on her thighs and I quickly change the channel.

I'm tired, but something is keeping me up.

I sigh. It's that damn criminal show. I toss and turn for hours until it hits one in the morning.

I'm so tired but I can't sleep. I'm wearing pink silk pajamas. I have on light pink silk pajama shorts and a matching silk tank top with lace at the top. I don't have a bra on and it's cold out so obviously my nipples are showing.

Honestly, I don't even care. I do have on white socks.

I grab my room key and my debit card and go down to the lobby. My hair is down and in soft chocolate waves with all of my hair on the left side. There are only two people in the lobby. They're both on the couches reading the newspaper. One of them has bronze hair and one has dark hair. They're both male, but I can't see their faces. I go to the bar and sit down and get a hot chocolate with marshmallows.

I sit there, picking at the Styrofoam on the cup and sighing at the sight of my chipped red nail polish that Madge and Annie practically forced me to put on. The mountains are in our town and I live twenty minutes from here but we wanted to get away for a day so this is where we went.

My hair is covering my face from anyone on my left side, and someone sits down.

I wonder who it is, but it's a guy, and the thought of a guy I don't know sitting next to me makes me sick to my stomach.

"My, my, my, you are beautiful." A soft voice whispers.

Panic floods me and my hand clenches around the Styrofoam cup and sends boiling hot chocolate pouring all down my wrist and off of the bar to my legs.

"Ow, holy shit!"

"Oh god!" the guy says, and he starts grabbing napkins, obviously panicking, and wiping off my legs.

"No, get away from me!" I say, panicking.

His movements stop. He's trying to wipe me off. Slowly, his head drags up my body to my eyes.

"Katniss." He continues wiping off my legs, and then he stands up.

Even though I told him to get away from me, he grabs my wrist and flips it over and wipes off the boiling hot chocolate. "God damn." He whispers. I can't move away from him even if I wanted to. His eyes drag up and down my body again. I notice them linger on my chest. "You are even more beautiful than I remember."

"Shit, Kitty?"

The bronze haired guy, that was Finnick, and the dark haired guy was Gale.

"Smooth move, Mellark you made your one and only love spill boiling chocolate all over her and gave her second degree burns."

"I didn't do I on purpose." Peeta mumbles.

"Fuck, if you're here then is everyone here? Do you still talk to them? How's Annie?"

"She's…she's on floor three, room 111."

"Bye!" Finnick bolts.

I look at Gale. "Madge is with her."

He disappears too, and I notice how he takes my room key with him.

"I thought I would never see you again." I mumble to Peeta.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you still live in Providence?" I ask. We're in his hotel room which he isn't sharing with the boys.

"Nah." He smiles, shaking his head. "God, Finnick, Gale and I, we left a month after you guys did. We went to Savannah, Georgia. You guys changed your phone numbers and we couldn't remember what town you said. I didn't even care about my job anymore. All I wanted was to find you, and I couldn't. We even tried to get Gale's Mom to call yours but your mom wouldn't answer the phone because Hazelle is from your Dad's side." He sighs. "I was and still am so depressed without you. I'm a fool for letting you go. God, I've never moved on. I've had me girlfriend since we broke up four years ago, and it lasted a week. Right when she tried to kiss me, I told her it wasn't working out and took off."

"Why? I thought you'd be married by now with a baby."

His eyes widen. "No. The only lips I want to feel against mine are yours. I don't want to be intimate with anyone but you. It's you. It's always been you."

"Oh Peeta." I whisper.

"What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, Johanna made me get a boyfriend but we broke up after three days because-"

His lips collide with mine and our eyes shut.

Fuck, I have to stop him before I get too caught up.

I can't thought. I'm sitting with my inner calfs against my inner thighs. My legs are slightly parted. He's sitting with his legs crossed in front of me. My back is to the door and his back is to the headboard.

I don't want to stop. It's been so long since I've felt his lips.

"Peeta." I moan softly. It seems to only fuel his fire even more because his hand starts moving towards the junction between my legs and his other hand pulls me into his lap.

"Stop me if you want me to stop. I don't want to stop but I will if you want me to. I still love you so much."

"I-I-I-" his lips leave my mouth and his hand on my back moves to slip under the front of my shirt. His right hand closes around my right breast and he starts kissing my neck. "I-I-fuck, don't stop." He pulls my silky tank top off. "Is the door locked?" I mumble.

"Who cares?" He whispers as his hands slip past my panties.

Fuck, we can catch up later.

...9...

Someone is knocking on the hotel door. My left leg is in between his legs, right up against his dick. My head is buried in his neck and his breathing is still shallow.

His arms are around my waist in right fists. He holds me dangerously close and my hair is spread across his chest.

The person knocks on the door again. I disentangle myself from him and scramble around for clothes. I settle for my lacy red panties and his shirt. The person knocks again. I cover Peeta and rush to the door and open it a crack to see who it is.

It's Madge and Gale, holding hands, Finn and Annie, holding hands, and obviously Reed and Johanna holding hands.

"What?" I hiss.

"Where's Peeta?" Finn demands.

"He's sleeping. What do you want?" I demand.

"I want to come in." He tries to push his way in but I push him back.

"He's sleeping."

"You know we can't stay here anymore. We had to check out hours ago and you overslept. Get dressed. It's time to go home." Annie says.

I don't want this to just be a one night stand. I peak over my shoulder at him. He's awake now, putting his boxers on. I shift from foot to foot. Peeta's hand lands on my shoulder and he pulls me back to let them into the room. He must've had the sense to kick our clothes under the bed.

"I don't remember what happened last night." He runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "What happened last night?" He looks me up and down and then he pauses. "Wait." He says. "Okay, I remember now."

"Get dressed." Madge tosses me my duffel bag. I glare at her and go into the bathroom and change into jeans and a t-shirt and a heavy jacket and I brush my hair and teeth and put everything back into my bag and out on my boots and shit and then I leave the bathroom.

"Why does she have to get dressed?" Peeta asks. He looks frantic.

"I have to go home." I whisper.

"What? No. No, no, no, no, no. I hade that mistake once before. I'm not doing it again. No. You can't go."

"Peeta, I have to. I work in..." I look at the clock and see it's eleven in the morning. "I work in an hour."

His eyes dart to the clock.

"Well how far away do you live?" He demands.

"Twenty minutes."

"When do you get off of work?" He asks.

"Um...I get off work at six."

"Fine. What's your address?"

I tell him and he writes it in his phone. "Why?"

"I'm going to be at your apartment when you get home from work."

It is only my apartment. Yes, I live with Madge and Annie, but I kind of do. See, I have a townhouse, and then Madge is in the one to the left of mine and Annie is in the one to the right if mine. My house has stairs leading up to my front door and I can't get to Annie or Madge's from my house without walking outside, so I suppose I do have my own place.

"Aren't you here on vacation?" I raise my eyebrows.

"So?" He asks.

"Peeta..."

"By the way, I'm kind if ditching you to go to Annie's." Finn announces to Oeeta and Gale.

"I'm going to Madge's."

"Problem solved. Don't be late for work." He says. He takes my phone and programs his number and then texts himself. "I'll see you later."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes."

...9...

"So he just showed up?" Christa, my coworker says.

"Yes." I say, running off to serve table eight their food and then to wash down a table. I don't get off for another three hours. I go back to the kitchen.

"And then what?"

"We started catching up. He was seaming questions and he asked if I had a boyfriend I started to explain about the three days with James and he found out I didn't have a boyfriend and then he kissed me and was telling me to stop him if I wanted while his hands moved closed to my crotch and then he reaches under my shirt and starts palming my breast and then he started fingering me and well, you know where it went from there."

"Does he look the same?" She asks.

"No. His eyes are bluer, his hair is a but darker and a bit curlier, he's taller, buffer, and I swear his dick is longer.

"So they're all good things?"

"Yes." I laugh.

"So are you back together?"

I stop. "I don't know. I don't know what we are right now."

We continue talking about Peeta until six o'clock and then I get left off the clock. I say goodbye and I'm out the door in seconds. I drive carefully home and parallel park in front of my apartment. He's sitting on my porch step. I can tell by the snow in his hair and eyelashes that he's been sitting there for a long time. I get out of the car and shut the door with my hip. He jumps up and kisses me, pressing me up against the car.

"How long have you been here?" I ask.

"An hour and a half." He says.

"Why?"

"I didn't want to be late. I didn't want to get lost, plus, I love this town. It's so pretty." I unlock the front door and lead him into my home. I shut the door with my ass and out my keys and my purse and phone on the table by the door. Right when the door clicks shut, I turn around and lock it. I turn the temperature.

"Make yourself at home." I say. He sheds his jacket and his shoes. I do the same and then I rub Madison's head and feed her. She's my golden retriever. "Can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Sure." He says.

"What are we doing? I live in Colorado, you live in New York. Neither one of us can afford to move and leave our jobs. I almost have the interior design stuff with Madge opened. It should be done by March. "You have work, too. We can't just leave."

"Katniss." He laughs. "I can afford anything as long as it means I'm with you. I'll get my own place-"

"Or you'll live with me." I cut him off.

"And we can get back together." He looks excitedly crazed.

"So are we back together?" I ask.

"I don't know." He frowns. "If you be my girlfriend again then I suppose we are."

I make bit chocolate by boiling water on the stove. I take two glasses of boiling water and then I add more water and toss in some spaghetti for dinner.

"Is this your corny way of asking me to be your girlfriend again?"

"Maybe." He grins. "Is it gonna work."

"I don't know, is it?" I raise my eyebrows challengingly at him.

"Katniss." He smiles.

"Fine." I try to open the spaghetti. "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

"Awesome."

I just smile at the jar and say nothing.

"You can cook." He points out.

"Yes. Luckily. I learnt when I had nobody there to cook for me."

"See, it's not that hard." He teases. I stick my tongue out at him and he grins.

"Johanna and Reed are engaged." I say.

"What?" He asks, moving next to me and taking the unopened jar from my hand. He twists it without hardly straining and pops it open. "Go sit down."

"What? No. I'm making dinner Peeta, I can't."

"No, you have to sit down. I can't sit down and watch a female make dinner."

"Why? I'm perfectly capable-" he kisses me to shut me up, and his hand is in my hair when he pulls away. My hand is on his chest, over his heart.

"I want to show you something." I whisper.

"Now?" He asks.

"It can't wait." I reach my hand behind me and shut off the stove.

"Katniss." He whispers. "Where are we going?"

I grab his hand and then I pull him away to the stairs. I pull him past the bathroom to my bedroom.

"You want to show me your room?" He asks.

"No, I want to show you my bed." I push him down on it.

"Is this your way of telling me it's time for sex?"

"Yes." I whisper.

...9...

I wake with my head on his chest, and the very first thing I notice is how hungry I am. Peeta's awake. I can tell because of his breathing, the pace of his heart, and the fact that he's rubbing my bare back. It's dark out. I look at the clock on the cable box and see it's 1:38 AM.

I tilt my head upward to meet his eyes through the moonlight.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" He whispers.

I sigh and shift my head on his chest. "I don't know. I'll probably go to my Mom's or something." I whisper back. "Why?"

"Well my parents moved to Wyoming and my have a really big house on a lake. Mom and Dad are worried about me because Rye and Graham are married with kids and I'm single as far as they know. They don't want me to be alone forever and they keep pestering me about getting married and having a family and I keep telling them that all I want, all I've ever wanted, is you, and Mom says to find to. To get back together with you. I just...if I showed up at their house for thanksgiving with you next to me..." He sighs. "They would be so happy." He bites his lip. "God, it's like they're ashamed of me or something I just...god, I just want to make them proud."

"They are proud of you and how successful you are. I just think they're worried you'll never find Miss's Right."

"They're wrong. I've already found her. I found her nine years ago."

"Peeta." I whisper. I shut my eyes for a second. "You want to marry me?"

He chuckles lightly. "Baby, I've always wanted to marry you. You are the one. You always were. I was just too blind to see it until I went to Graham's wedding." He pauses. "Then at Rye's wedding when I saw Hanna walking down the aisle towards Rye it's like I saw you walking towards me. I got even more depressed and that's when Finn and Gale decided I needed a vacation. Who would've thought I would find you."

"You were depressed?" I ask. He doesn't answer.

"Peeta." I warn.

"I was." He says. "Obviously. Fuck, I love you. I didn't want to be without you. I was depressed yesterday when I nearly killed some girl flying down the mountain yesterday. Of course she told me to fuck off. Finn shouted fuck off back at her. Then right when I saw you sitting there...I didn't know it was you. It was something about the way you were sitting and your hair and the waves. I knew I had to go talk to you. Gale and Finnick and I couldn't sleep so we were in the lobby. I went into the bathroom when you came in. I asked the guys if they saw your face and they said no so I came and sat next to you. I didn't even know it was you until you started talking. Fuck, I was so surprised."

"I'll go with you for Thanksgiving." I whisper.

"You will?" He asks.

"Yeah." I mumble. "I'm hungry."

"We were making dinner. Did you turn the burner off?"

"Um. Yeah I did."

"Do you want to eat?" He asks.

"I'm hungry." I repeat.

"Okay." he gets up and pulls on his boxers. "Do you work tomorrow?"

"I don't know." I sigh and get up and stretch. His eyes drag up and down my body. I pull on my lacy black panties and look around for a shirt. I go to my dresser and get out one of his shirts, the one I wear to bed almost every night, one he doesn't know I have. Well, he knows now.

"You!" He says.

"What?"

"You stole it! That's my favorite shirt!"

"This is mine."

"You took it."

"Do you want it?" I pull it off.

"No. Your fine." He sighs and hugs me. "I love you." He whispers.

I realize then that he has said it three times to me and not once have I responded.

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you sure your parents won't care if Madison comes?" I ask.

"They won't care at all." He says. "They're gonna be so happy." Peeta makes a left and we enter Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the place his parents live.

Madison's head is out the window and she barks.

"We should have asked."

"Katniss my Mom encourages Rye and Graham to being their dogs and she keeps asking me to get a dog so I can bring her. As a matter of fact, her favorite dog is a Golden Retriever. Also, she loves you. She asks me every day how you are. I tell her I don't know but she keeps pestering me. I think she's waiting for the day the answer changes."

We pull up in front of a giant yellow house with at least three stories. There's huge window on the second floor. The ground is coated in snow and the driveway has been shoveled.

He gets out and I get out and stretch. We've been driving for hours so my limbs are in need of stretching. I crack my back and neck. Peeta stretches, too, and then I let out Maddi. She runs around and pees in the snow. I kick snow over the pee snow and make her heel.

"Peeta." I say. Hems grabbing small things he knows I'm going to need for now.

"Uncle Peeta!" A little girl who is probably three years old comes racing outside. She is wearing nothing. She lunges into Peeta's arms.

"Gabriella, where is your clothes?" Peeta asks.

"Gabriella Kate Mellark, get back here right now!" Graham shouts from the door. "Hey Peet."

Graham looks at me and the fresh diaper in his hand falls on the floor. "Holy shit! Peet! Why didn't you call to tell us?"

"I wanted to surprise you guys."

"This is crazy! Mom is gonna be so happy. Come inside, it's cold out."

"I thought it was hot." I mutter under my breath. Peeta snickers and puts his hand on my lower back.

"It's cold Daddy!" The little girl says, reaching for Graham when we get to the porch. He takes her and looks me up and down.

"Is it just me or is she even sexier every time I see her?"

"Who are you talking about?" A girl asks. She comes up behind Graham and narrows her eyes at me. They're a striking green and her hair is brown and she's skinny and beautiful. This must be Hanna, Graham's wife. "Gray eyes, dark wavy hair, skinny, beautiful...you must be Katniss Everdeen. I'm Hanna, Graham's wife." She sticks out her hand.

"Nice to meet you." I shake it.

Graham leads us into the house, and Madison, ruffling her ears, and shuts the door. Right in front if us is a giant staircase. To my right is an archway to the living room, and to my left is an archway to the kitchen.

"Everyone's in the kitchen." Graham says. "Peeta's here."

Peeta makes me stand outside of the kitchen. "Stay here. Please, just for a second. I really want to surprise them." He kisses my forehead.

"Peet, bro." Rye says. I hear the giggling of a baby.

"Meet a girl son?" Mr. Mellark asks after the cheesy family greetings. I whip out my phone and start speed panic texting Madge.

"Maybe a girl with dark hair and gray eyes?" Mrs. Mellark asks. "Maybe her name starts with a K? Maybe her Uncle is Haymitch. Maybe her brother is Reed."

"Katniss." Peeta says simply. The kitchen drifts into silence. "Yeah, I found a girl."

"And? How did you meet? Where is she?"

"I was on that vacation and she was sitting at the bar at two in the morning with hit chocolate. I didn't see her face but from what I could see, she was drop-dead gorgeous. I told her she was beautiful and she kind of panicked and squeezed her cup and burnt herself."

"Where is she?" Mr. Mellark asks. "Your not getting any younger, Peeta."

"She's around." He says.

"Well I'm glad your finally getting over Katniss. She's gorgeous Peet. You were a fool to let her go, but at least you found someone else."

I hear silence in the kitchen. Peeta mutters something I didn't quite catch.

"What?" Rye asks.

"I didn't say I was over Katniss."

"Peeta, your dating another girl while your still in love with her?"

Peeta laughs. "I didn't say I was dating another girl either."

Madison goes walking right into the kitchen.

"Aww!" Mrs. Mellark gushes. "What's her name? You finally got a dog, Peeta!"

"Her name is Madison." Peeta says. He doesn't tell her that Maddie is mine, not his. "You don't mind I brought her, do you?"

"No, of course not!" Mrs. Mellark says. "Now, back to this girl. What did you say?"

"I said that I didn't say I was dating another girl." Peeta says.

I hear silence. "You found her?" Mrs. Mellark whispers.

"Yeah."

"And your back together?" She presses.

"Yeah."

"And you didn't bring her with you? Fuck! Peeta, I would obviously want to see her! Dammit,"

Peeta shoots out from the kitchen and grabs my wrist and pulls me into the kitchen, placing his hands on my shoulders from behind to steady me. "I never said I didn't bring her with me." He says. "I believe you owe me an apology."

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Mellark says. She's staring at me. I want to speak but it's like my mouth is glued shut.

She doesn't speak either, and everyone is holding their breath.

Then, she starts crying.

"Oh my goodness, look at you!" She hugs me and holds me at arms length. "Where have you been? Peeta's been depressed! He lives here you know, and he almost took sleeping pills."

"What?" I whip around. "You said you lived in New York."

"Thanks a lot Mom." Peeta says. He looks at me. "Listen-"

"You lied."

"Yes, but I have a good reason if you would just listen to me." He begs.

I grit my teeth. "You have thirty seconds."

"Oh, I like her already." Rye's wife, Kate, puts her feet on the table and watches.

He leans forward and whispers in my ear, "I lied to you about where I live because I didn't want you to know I live with my parents. It's pathetic. I'm twenty five and I live with my parents. If I told you I almost killed myself you would have freaked out. I wanted to avoid that. We just got back together. I just wanted to fix things between us before I released the complexity of my depression." He pulls away. My arms are crosses, my lips are pursed, and I'm sure I look unforgiving. Maddie sense my hate. She walks next to me, gets down with her ass in the air and starts growling at Peeta. I snap my fingers and she stops.

"I can't believe you tried to kill yourself."

"I'm sorry. I have a therapist now, at least. He helps me. I might stop going um...I don't need him anymore."

"Do you know what this means?" I whisper. He raises his eyebrows. "It means I have to stay with you forever because you are only happy and healthy with me." I whisper so quietly I know that one he can hear it.

He grins.

"I love your logic."

"Me too."

"So how are you?" Mr. Mellark changes the subject.

"I'm the same Katniss that I was the last time we met." I shrug. Peeta sits down on a kitchen chair and extends his arms towards me. I walk over to him and he pulls me down. Maddi walks over to us even though Mrs. Mellark is petting her. She sniffs my knee, licks my hand, and then lays down. "Nothing's really changed except I live in Colorado now, not in Breckenridge."

"What Johanna, Madge, Annie, and Reed?"

"Johanna and Reed are engaged and Madge and Annie are the same as me. The only difference between me and them is I have a dog and they don't."

"Madison is yours?" Mrs. Mellark asks.

"Yeah she is." I nod.

"So are you happy Johanna and Reed are engaged?"

"Yeah but their love is so cute it's sickening and he has her giggling." Peeta snickers. "Johanna giggling?"

I laugh. "It's absurd, I know." I laugh.

"So your good with everything?" Graham asks.

"Pretty much."

"Even you almost getting raped?" Rye blurts.

"Rye! Don't bring that up! God!"

Peeta shouts across the table at him.

"Knock it off." I tell Peeta. "It's fine."

"No it's not fine." Peeta says. "He shouldn't talk about it. Not in front of the kids and not in front of you."

"I believe I can talk about whatever I want in front of my own son." Rye hisses.

"I never said you couldn't, I'm just saying you shouldn't." Peeta snaps.

"Peeta it's fine." I say. I look at Rye. "I'm fine. I'm upset about it but i'm fine. I can go outside without being scared now."

...9...

"So we start a song and when you start it and you can't guess it you have to sing a cheesy love song. No exceptions." Hana says.

"Oh, I am not singing."

"Please? She said no exceptions! I've never heard you sing." Peeta begs.

"Fine." I say.

We start the game and I guess every single song and eventually they give up. Everyone has sang already and I'm just sitting here.

Mom doesn't know I'm back with Peeta and I made everyone a wear to secrecy. After this trip, I'm flying to Florida to spend some time with Kale and her.

…..a…...

"We need to talk." Peeta says.

"Okay, let's talk." I say.

"Alone." He says. I raise my eyebrows. Rye and Graham are whispering very quickly to Hanna, Kate, and their parents. Peeta was just talking with Rye and Graham about me. I know because I heard my name, come out of Graham's mouth and then I heard both Peeta and Rye shush him, and a couple sends later, Rye's room shut.

"Okay." I stand up, forcing myself to stay calm. I know something's up. There's seriousness in his tone and an edge of sadness.

"Outside." He says, putting his hands on my shoulders and steering me into the backyard. He pulls me away from the house.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask. He shakes his head slowly. "No." he says. "I just…" he starts pacing. "You said I could move in with you, right? There's a good thing and a bad thing so I really ned this answer."

"Yeah."

"Which one do you want first then?"

"I want the good one." I say. "That way I have something to keep me from getting too upset."

"Marry me." he says, and he stops.

"What?" my mouth opens from shock and my eyebrows rise up.

"Marry me. I'm serious. I love you. I know you love me. Why wait? We're in love. Let's just take a step further and get engaged. I know we just got back together about two weeks ago but who cares? We're in love. That's all that matters, right? We know this isn't going to end, right? Marry me Katniss. I love you."

Tears start sliding down my cheeks and my mind is all over the place right now that he can't tell if they're tears of happiness or of pain.

He's right though. I mean, we love each other. We'll love each other even more by the time we would ask. Who cares if we just got back together?

"Okay." I whisper. "I'll marry you."

"You will?" his voice is laced in shock.

"Yes."

"You will?" he asks again.

I smile. "Yes."

"Oh my god!" he picks me up and starts kissing my face all over mumbling _I love you so much_ every time his lips are about to connect with my skin. He moves down to my neck, and then stops. "I love you."

"I love you too." I can't stop smiling.

"I have the ring." He says, and then he sets me down and starts digging in his pocket. "It was my great grandma's. She died, and now you get it.

He pulls out an old circular box and unhooks the latch and pulls out a diamond ring and slides it onto my leg hand.

"I hope that this isn't too rushed."

"I think it's okay. We were together for four years before this. I think we'll be okay."

"Now for the bad stuff." He says.

Oops, I forgot about that.

"Now." He says. "I don't know if I can move out of New York. I know you are working on your interior design thing with Madge." He runs his hand through his hair. "I've got one store opened but I'm working on one more so I don't know when I'll be done with that. We'll have to be long distance for a while."

"How long is a while?" I whisper. He cringes.

"Honey…"

"Peeta." I say. "Just say it."

"Okay um…it'll be at _least_ a year. At the most…honey…" he looks pained. "Just say it, Peeta."

"It takes a lot of time and work. It can take at least a year if you have helpers which, I do, I have Rye and Graham. Finnick and Gale are moving to Breckenridge."

"So it can take more than a year?"

"A year and a half." He says. "That's how long I think it's going to take." He shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs.

"I'm not going to be done by then. It's only Madge and I and we don't even have a building yet."

"When we leave here I'm going to drop you off at the airport and we'll see each other once or twice for…well, probably we won't' see each other until your twenty seventh birthday. I promise though, I'm going to do anything I can to make this so faster, and we'll visit."

"Okay." I whisper. "We can do this. We've lasted four years. Why can't we last one and a half more?"

**Please keep your complaints to yourself. I'm not in the mood for haters anymore. **

**I do love you guys though**

**If you want to see the ring, kik me. It's so pretty!**

**I'm going to explain what it looks like next chapter though, because Katniss was too caught up in the moment to inspect it.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Katniss." Mom whispers. "Why aren't you in bed? You just flew all the way from Wyoming to Florida. You should be exhausted."

"I'm not tired." I mumble.

I only had three days left with Peeta after we got engaged. I'm not going to see him for Christmas. Hell, I'm staying home for Christmas. Mom and Kale and the rest of the family is coming to me. I have the guest room and the pull out couch. I'm getting a tree when I go home. Peeta's spending Christmas with Graham and Hanna's daughter and Gabriella, and Rye and Kate's son, James. The only reason he's doing that is because they're with him.

"Katniss." Mom whispers. I have my left hand shoves under my leg. Mom sits down across from me. "There's something you aren't telling me."

I haven't cried once about this whole ordeal. I've kept it in.

My bottom lip starts to tremble, and I drop my head on the table and just sob.

"Oh, honey!" she gasps. Kale isn't nine anymore, he's eighteen, and he's in his senior year of high school. It's well past midnight and he has school tomorrow.

"What's wrong?" Kale asks. When I don't answer, he turns to Mom. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." She says.

I take in multiple deep breaths and force myself to stop crying.

_Knock it off! You've made it through four whole years without him! Now you aren't without him! He's with you! Your engaged to him, you jut don't have him there so you can touch his hand! He's coming back! You are twenty five years old! Start acting like it._

I take a deep breath. "I ran into Peeta."

"Oh god." Kale says.

"And we had sex."

"Katniss." Mom sighs.

"And we got back together." I rush on. "And I was with him for Thanksgiving. We're engaged, guys."

"Oh my god!" Kale says. "You and Reed are both getting married? Where the fuck is my girlfriend?"

"This is wonderful news. Where is he? Why are you crying?"

"Madge and I are working on opening our interior designing business and he's in New York City working on opening his bakery and we're going long distance until he's done. It's going to take at least a year."

"At least you'll have him there to talk to. Katniss, you know Peeta. If you need him, he's going to be there. He'll be on your doorstep before you finish your conversation with him."

"I'm not afraid of something happening, I just don't want to be away from him any longer."

"Good things come to those who wait. Now, I'm going to tell Haymitch, and he' going to give me Peeta's Mom's number, and then we're going to have a conversation about something." She pauses. "Can I see the ring?"

I haven't even looked at it yet. I've been too caught up in everything. I stick my hand out for her to see it and her hand clamps over her mouth. "It was his Great Grandmothers." I whisper. Kale loos over Mom's shoulder and does a double take.

I get a good look at it too, and I'm shocked. It's a thin gold band with ten diamonds surrounding one big diamond, forming a flower, but it's a diamond flower. It's being held together with gold.

God, this is beautiful.

"It's so pretty." Mom whispers. "No, it's not pretty. It puts my ring to shame. This is very special Katniss. This is part of the Mellark family. Cherish it darling, it's very special." She kisses my head, an Kale's, and goes upstairs.

I grab my phone after Kale leaves the kitchen and text Peeta.

Me: are you awake?

My phone starts ringing twenty seconds later, almost as if he were staring at the screen.

I press answer and sit down at the table.

"Hi." I whisper."

"Hi beautiful." He says. He's wide awake and slightly breathless.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I couldn't sleep so I went down to the gym." He says. I know I'm on speaker, which tells me nobody is in there with him, and I can hear the treadmill stop. "How are you?" he asks. "You sound stuffy."

"I'm tired, but I can't sleep."

He pauses. "Honey, I know damn well that you don't get stuffy when you're tired." He says.

"I just…" I sigh.

"You're crying, or you _were_ crying."

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were." He says. I hear the jingling of keys.

"Fine but…it's the first time I've cried. I needed to let our something."

He sighs. "Are you okay? If I have to, I'll come right back to you until I know you're okay."

"I'm okay, I promise. What about you? Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine." He says.

"Peeta." I say. I hear a car start. "I hope you know I have eyes on you."

"Yeah, I know that. I have eyes on you, too." He says.

"If you're still depressed-"

"I'm not. I'm not, I swear." He says.

"Okay." I rest my head on the kitchen table. "I told Mom and Kale."

"And?"

"They're happy. Actually, Mom is on the phone with your Mom."

"They're probably obsessing over us and the wedding." He says.

"I bet." I smile and get up and go upstairs. I change into his shirt and lay down in my bed.

I end up falling asleep with him on my phone.

….a….

I went home. I had to go back to work.

Right when I walk in the door with Madison, who came with me to Mom's, I lock the door and go down to the basement and I start rustling around my boxes.

"Ha!" I say with I spot the one called _Peeta and I. _

I push it aside and find the one called _old picture frames and some car stock_

I drag the two boxes upstairs. I start digging through the box of Peeta and I photo and I out every one of them in a frame. I can put nails in the wall. I know Annie and Madge are going to come over here. I grab my wallet and my car keys and run out of the hose and get in my truck and drive down to the store and get three things of nails and a hammer and I buy them and go home. I start hammering the nails in and hanging up photos. I get the box with college ones and other family photos.

I have them lining the staircase and the living room and they're in the hallway and the kitchen.

Annie, Finn, Gale, and Madge come banging on the door. Johanna lives in the place with Reed which is next to Madge's, so they heard it too. I open the door.

"What the fuck is that fucking noise?" Johanna demands, shoving into the apartment. They all look around, and then at me, and the ring on my finger. Reed shuts the door.

"You and Peeta are doing long distance and you're engaged." Madge says.

"Yup." I check for any more pictures.

I think that's all. I bring the boxes back to the basement and straighten the pictures.

…a…

After making dinner, I go out to a Christmas tree place. I'm in a red trench coat, white skinny jeans, and my boots. I get a tree that will nearly touch the roof of my place. Gale, Reed, and Finnick help me to put it up and we all decorate it together, the girls now joining us. I string Christmas lights outside and then go and put a wreath on the door. We say our goodbyes and everyone goes home, and I shut and lock the front and back door. I go take a hot shower and grab my iPad and sit down on the couch on a black sports bra and matching panties. The windows and blinds are closed and nobody's getting in. Maddie jumps up with me and rests her head on my leg. I text Peeta on my phone.

Me: it's like, midnight there, right?

Bae: Yeah, why?

Me: never mind

Bae: Why?

Me: I just wanted to face time but it's late there so go ahead and go to bed.

My iPad starts ringing with a face time call.

I sigh and swipe to answer it. He's sitting at the kitchen table, shirtless.

"Are you naked?" he asks. It's only showing my shoulders.

"No." I move the iPad down.

"Oh." He says. I move the camera to my face again. "How are you?"

"I am very jat lagged" I laugh. "I went from three hours behind you to your time, and now I'm back to three hours behind. I'm glad I don't have to work until the day after tomorrow."

"Yeah, I work tomorrow." He grumbles.

"You work for yourself." I laugh.

"Ys, but the more I work, the closer I get to seeing you. The sooner I see you, the better for both of us. I hope you know I plan to see you on Valentine's day and your birthday. Oh, and this Christmas will be the only major holiday we spend apart."

"I don't want you to spend too much money." I say.

"I'm okay Katniss. I have plenty of money. You don't need to worry about that." He says. "Was that picture on the wall when I was there?" he points at one behind me.

"No. Look." I show him all the photos and the Christmas tree.

"I love it." He says.

"It even smells like Christmas in here because I have candles lit." I grin. "Oh, and I have lights on outside!" I grin.

"Your adorable." He smiles. "I love you."

"I love you too." I smile. "You need to go to bed." I say as he yawns.

"I'd rather talk to you." He says. I position the camera in my bedroom so he can see me and I get actual pajama's on because I'm freezing, and then I shut the light off and go back downstairs.

"Baby, you need to sleep." I say. He sighs.

"Fine." He says. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Bye."

"Bye baby."

The call ends.

This is going to be difficult.


	5. Chapter 5

I go hiking a few weeks later. My family is at my house and they keep asking me about Peeta and they're pissing me off.

I walk around the paths for a little while. I make snowballs and toss them for Maddie to catch. She doesn't catch them, of course, but he chases them and then comes back.

I get a text from Peeta.

Bae: _i'm on facetime and your family answered your iPad and they're questioning me._

Me: _I'll come home_

I turn around and walk the five minutes home.

They're interrogating him on the iPad. "You guys are evil." I snatch my iPad from Kale's hands and he and Reed start laughing. "What did they do to you?" I ask Peeta. He smiles. "Nothing, we've just been having a friendly conversation." He smiles.

….a….

Madge and I are working really hard to get our place open. We're making this interior design place. They come to us when they need help or they call us and ask us to design and build them a house. We have a team of contractors that do the building and they help us design but we go in and do the house decorating and shopping.

"Wait." Christa says. "How are you and Peeta doing with the long distance thing?"

For now I have a job at Applebee's to get by.

"We're good. I miss him like crazy though." Valentine's day is in a week and we don't know if we're going to see each other even though he said we would. I don't blame him. It's not a major holiday.

"That's to be expected." She smiles. "Well, bye."

I have one foot in the door and one foot out the door because I got off of work an hour and a half ago but I had to stay later than expected. I walk out and get into my truck and go home.

I go into the house and Madge, Gale, Jo, Reed, Annie, and Finn all join me.

Right away, Peeta's calling me.

"Hey." I ask into the phone.

"I have news." He says. "And some if it's good and some of it's bad."

"Okay..." I put my keys down.

"Hey Peet!" Finn shouts.

"Actually, can you put it on speaker? I'd rather tell all of them." He says.

I do, and we all sit down on the couch. I undo my braid.

He tells them he has news and everyone sits silently and waits.

"So, I'm going to be back on Christmas Eve for good." He says. All of us cheer. "But," he says. "The only way to do that, I'll have to miss...honey, I'm gonna have to miss your birthday, and Halloween, and Thanksgiving and Valentines day and everything in between that."

First I'm like, hooray, he's coming home! And then I'm like fuck, I can't see him till very late December. Fuck.

Fuck.

It's only early February.

I really don't want to cry, especially not with him on the phone. Honestly, I have no right to cry. Some people have it so much worse than me. For instance, the people that fight for our country. Some of them have never met their children. Their significant others don't see them for years, and they don't get to talk on the phone and they don't even know if they're alive or not.

It almost feels selfish to cry, but tears start slipping from my eyes. I don't let myself be loud because I really don't want him to know I'm crying.

I know him better than anyone. If he finds out I'm crying, he'll come home. I don't want him to give up because of me.

Everyone is silent for a long time, and then they see my hide my face in my hands. All of them sigh.

"Is she crying?" Peeta demands. I hear a rustling, like he's starting to pack or something.

"No she isn't, she's just upset." Madge says.

"Katniss." Peeta says.

"I'm fine." I say.

"I'm really sorry."

"Peeta, it's not even your fault. It's okay. I understand. I just...I really miss you." I whisper.

I hear a long bout of silence. "I miss you too. I'll try to call every day."

"Okay." I say. "Can you just promise me one thing?" I ask.

"Anything." He says.

"You have to absolutely promise me that if you get stressed and need a break, you take the break. I don't care if you miss Christmas. Your health and wellbeing is so much more important."

"I can't promise that. I have to go." He says. "I love you."

"Peeta..." I sigh. I just let it drop. My attempts are pointless, and if He promises he'll just break it and that'll make me mad. "I love you too."

"Bye." He whispers, and I can tell how upset he is by this.

"Bye." I hang up.

"Katniss." Reed whispers.

"It's fine." I say. "I get it. Every second working like this counts." I say.

"You can go visit..."

Madge trails off.

"No. He won't work if I show up."

"She's right." Finn says.

"Sadly." Johanna says. "That sucks."

"You know he's paying us to keep an eye in you." Gale says.

"What?" I ask, outraged.

"Oh calm down." Annie says. "You're paying Rye and Graham and their wives. Don't act so innocent."

She's right.

I sigh. "I'm making dinner. You guys can stay if you want."


	6. Chapter 6

We haven't spoken in a week. It's mid-April. Rye did text me to tell me everything is fine and that he's really tired and he keeps meaning to call, but he falls asleep.

Only eight more months.

Only…

…a…

I start completely drowning myself in working. It's not till my boss tells me to take the day off that I realize what month it is. It's July.

How the hell did it get from April to July so fast?

I've only spoken to Peeta about three times since he told me in April that I wouldn't see him to December.

I come home, lock the front door, and then start crying in my bed. I end up crying myself to sleep.

…a…

It's August. Kale is in Maine for college. I;ve just woken up to my phone ringing. I grab it. "Hello?" I ask, and you can hear the desperation in my tone.

"Hi honey."

I sigh. It's not Peeta, it's Mom.

"Hi."

"How are you?" she asks.

"Sad." I say bluntly. I explain the whole situation and she listens intently.

"Oh, all of this pain will be worth it in the long run." She says. "For now, just hold on because he loves you more than anything and you love him. You guys are destined to be together."

"Your right. I need to stop this. People have it so much worse than me."

…a…

Mom really helped me that day. I know that he's doing fine and I talk to him every now and then. Now it's September, my birthday.

Right at midnight, I get a phone call from him.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Happy birthday." He says. I can hear it in his voice that he feels terrible.

"Thanks." I smile, even though he can't see me.

"I'm just…I'm really sorry I can't be there."

"Don't be." I say. "Really baby, it's okay. I understand."

We talk until three in the morning, and then I think he falls asleep, so I hang up.

…..a…..

He calls me on Skype in Mid-October. It's snowing here so I'm in a soft pink sweater and white jeans and Uggs. My computer is ringing when I walk in the door from the store; I answer it and carry my laptop with me to the kitchen.

He looks…he looks crazed. "So I've been listening to this song and it's so relatable ad it's so cool and pretty and I like it and it's cool and pretty."

"Peeta." I say. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" he laughs loudly. "Nothing's wrong! I'm fine! I'm just fine!"

But then he starts crying, and his head slams down on the table.

I was almost positive I would hit the breaking point first.

"I'm fucking insane Katniss! I've not slept in a week and I'm exhausted and I miss you and everything about you and your smile and your laugh and I know this is technically my house but I want to come home with you!" he cries.

I start crying too, then, and I shove all the groceries in the fridge and force myself to hold back more tears. "Peeta, come on baby, just two more months and then we have forever. Just two more an then we have forever. We can do this. Don't cry baby. How about you take the day off tomorrow and-"

"No! I'm not taking the day off! Every day I take off pushes the day I get to see you further away! I'd rather kill myself then take the day off!"

"Don't you _ever_ fucking say that Peeta Ryan. That is not okay."

"Well it's true!" he snaps.

"Peeta please…go rest. Please go take a nap. Please baby. Go sleep for me."

"No. I need to stay awake. I can finish todays work."

"Peeta please? You're scaring me. Go rest." I whisper.

"Fine."

And then he passes out. I hang up and call Rye and explain everything. I hang up to him leaving.

…..a…..

I'm sick. I have the stomach flu and I can't eat anything because anything I eat I throw up. I've had it for about two weeks now. It's so bad that I told Mom I can't come for Thanksgiving. She's mad but she understands.

Now I'm alone and vomiting anything that hits my stomach. Peeta keeps messaging me. he's gotten better since that day because Rye, Kate and James have been staying with him.

Bae: _how are you?_

Me: _I've lost 15 pounds_

Bae: _WHAT?_

Me: _I'm fine_

Bae: _losing fifteen pounds is not fine._

Me: _I'm getting better. Everyone will be home soon and it will be all overwith._

Bae:_ have you been to the doctor?_

I change his contact name from _Bae_ to _Baby_.

Me: _no…_

Baby: _Katniss Joy_

Me: _fine, I'll go to the doctor_

I go to the walk in clinic.

Have something called Norovirus and it's highly contagious. The doctor says I should be better within the next week or so.

….a….

The doctor was right because in a week everything is back to normal. Christmas is in Two and a half weeks. I bleach the whole house and open the windows and spend the night at Reed and Jo's for the night and then the next day I go home, blast the heater, shut the windows, and the go and get my Christmas tree. We all decorate it, just like last year.

Fuck, it's been a year and two weeks since I've seen Peeta.

I put lights up all around the house.

This Christmas is going to be crazy because not only is my side of the family coming, but so is Johanna, Annie, Finn, and Madge's. (Gale counts at Reed and I's side since he's our cousin.)

My family is staying at a hotel and the Mason's are staying with Johanna and Reed. The Odair's are getting a hotel, the Cresta's are saying with Finn and Annie, the Undersee's are saying with Madge and Gale, and then the Mellark's are coming and they're staying with me.

On Christmas though, everyone is coming to my house. Everyone I getting there three days before Peeta is supposed to, except for Rye, Graham, Hanna, Kate, James and Rebecca.

Peeta's bring his car on the plane and all of his stuff is going to be in it because once he's here, he isn't going to back to New York.

My boss is giving me time off work from the day before everyone comes, which will be on the 20th of December, all the way to the fifth of January. He knows how upset I've been without Peeta.

I'm super excited.

….a…..

It's the day before Christmas Eve and none of us can get ahold of anyone in New York. All of the families are over and I've been pacing around the kitchen. I call Peeta, then Rye, then Graham, then Hanna, then Kate. When they don't answer, I wait ten minutes and repeat.

"Katniss." Mom finally says. "You need to calm down."

"I'm not going to calm down." I say. "What if they're flight got cancelled or…something bad happened? What if they got into a car accident?"

"Katniss." Mrs. Mellark says. "I think you're worrying too much."

"But…what if…what fi I'm right? What if they died?"

"They're not dead." Peeta's cousin, Audrey, laughs.

My phone starts ringing just then and I press answer so fast that I don't een have a chance to check the caller I.D.

"Hello?" I ask, worry laced in my tone.

"I'm really sorry." Peeta says. "I was at the movies and my phone was off. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shut it off."

"Are you okay?" I demand.

"I'm good. It's all good. Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you lying?" he asks.

"No, I can't lie."

"Right." He says. "I can't talk long. I have to finish packing and then I'm going to bed. I'll um…see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." I smile. "I love you."

"I love you too, so, so much. Bye."

"Bye." He hangs up.

"Well?" Finn asks.

"They were at a movie…"

"Told you." Mom and Mrs. Mellark say.

It's late, twelve or something at night.

People start falling asleep, and I just tell everyone else they can stay the night, and then I go upstairs and take a boiling hot shower and force myself to go to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I've been sitting on the steps since five this morning. I haven't moved, and everyone keeps telling me that's negative eighteen degrees and I need to come inside, but I ignore them.

It's eleven in the morning now, my body is numb, my lips are blue and snow is in my hair.

I make snowballs and throw them at the tree and watch them break. I've been doing this for three hours.

"Katniss you're going to freeze." Mom tries again.

"I'm fine!" I say.

"Fine. I made you hot chocolate though. Drink it, or you're coming inside."

"She's coming inside." Reed walks out and picks me up, and I throw my snowball at him but he ignores me and forces me in the house. I keep getting up, so he ties me down to a kitchen chair ad sits it in the living room. I squirm all around, muttering under my breath about stupid people.

A car door shuts right outside. Reed looks out the window and then jumps up and unties me. I sprint out the front door and before Peeta's even up the steps; I'm laughing myself into his arms and knocking both of us backwards into the snow.

"Why hello." He smiles.

"Hi." I whisper against his lips, and then I kiss him. He kisses back, and we almost start making out, but we decide against it. I get off of him and stand up and help him up, and then hug him. He hugs me back, and we don't move for a while, just embracing the moment. I start crying, sobbing actually, in his arms. I think it's from the shock that he's back and he isn't leaving again. He doesn't set me down until I'm done.

"How are you?" he asks.

"I am absolutely wonderful." I sniff.

"So you were crying…?"

"Because of the shock that you're here." I shrug.

"Have you thrown up again?" he looks concerned.

"No." I shake my head. "I'm good."

"Great." He runs his fingers through my hair. "Let's go on a walk."

"Don't you want to see-" he kisses me.

"Let's go on a walk." He repeats.

"Okay." I whisper. He takes my hand and we head off.

We walk for a good hour in silence, and then we stop so he can sit down. He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair.

"What's wrong?" I squat down in front of him.

"Just tired." He says.

"When did you last get a full night's sleep?" I ask. He doesn't answer. "Peeta."

"I…" I bury his head in his hands. "I think your birthday."

"My birthday! Peeta, that was in September!"

"I know."

"I told you to take a day off."

"But if I took a day off I wouldn't be here." He says.

"We're going home and you'res going to sleep. No exceptions."

"No." he says. "I'm not going to sleep. I swear I'll get a full night tomorrow. I'll be okay until then."

"Peeta." I whisper.

"I'm okay." He assures me. "Let's go home." We walk home, and I notice him stumbling.

When we walk in the door, nobody is here. There's a note on the coffee table.

Peeta picks it up and reads. "Guys, we know you haven't seen each other in a year and a month. All of us are at the Everdeen's hotel room until four." He puts the note down and frowns.

"They left us alone?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Looks like it."

He looks around at the house an the photos and the tree. "I like it in here." He takes off his jacket and hangs it up on the hook behind the door. I take mine off and put it next to his.

"I've really missed you." I whisper.

"I've missed you too." He says. We both take off our shoes and then we start making out. It's almost like it was involuntarily planned. He carries me upstairs and slams the door.

I think we knock over a lamp.

He throws me, literally, onto the bed and starts pulls off all of my clothes until I'm naked.

"God dammit, your sexy as fuck." He takes all his clothes off.

...9...

We slowed down and it became soft and gentle instead of rough and frantic. We only had two rounds, one in bed and the other in the shower.

As I take my hair out of the towel, I turn to him. "Let's watch The Santa Claus." I say.

"Alright." He says. "Let's go."

He doesn't even realize it's a trap to get him to catch up on some sleep.

I start the movie and lay down in his arms.

We only get to the part of the kid getting on the train when he falls asleep.

Good. I get up and start cleaning every inch of everything. Peeta doesn't snore so the only sound is of my footsteps and the TV.

I clean the whole kitchen and get everything ready for cooking. It's four now.

Just as I'm walking out of the kitchen, everyone comes in.

Peeta wakes up right away, and he looks like he's going to go back to sleep. He rolls on his stomach and covers his face with his pillow.

"How the hell did you get him to sleep?" Rye asks.

"I didn't. He fell asleep." I walk over to him. "Hey." I say. "Go on up to bed."

He moans.

"Come on." I say.

"I'm not going back to sleep." He sits up and runs his hands over his face.

Everyone from my family hasn't seen him in what, five, five and a half years?

He gets up and stretches. He's so cute. He starts saying hi to everyone he hasn't seen in a while.

Once the greetings are over, he slings his arm around my shoulder. "You know the only reason I went to sleep is because I knew you were trying to get me to." He says.

"Your lying." I laugh. "You didn't know."

Everyone sits down and we get to talking. We get into that Skype call we had in October.

"What Skype call?" Peeta asks.

"The one in October. When you called me."

"I didn't Skype you in October."

"Yes you did." I say. I explain how he was going in about the song. "And then you started sobbing and you were saying something about killing yourself and then you passed out."

"Really?" He asks. We all nod.

"You scared me to death. I called Rye because of it." He looks really confused.

"I don't remember that." He mutters. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"We should start dinner." Mr. Mellark says, and then they all get up.

Mrs. Mellark pauses in the doorway of the kitchen. "You boys don't have to help. Neither do you." She says to Peeta, Rye, and Graham. "You opened your house and fed us. The least we can do is make you dinner."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes. Sit back down." Peeta, on the floor, looks at me with a tired smile, and then he lifts his arms up at me. I sit down in his lap and turn so I'm facing him. I kiss him, and then I tangle my fingers in his hair.

The waiting was definitely worth it.


	8. Chapter 8

It's around ten at night. We've put the kids to sleep. All of the children are here, along with the adults.

This is our first night together in a year and a month. I take a shower.

Fuck. I'm so used to nobody being here that I forgot clothes and I didn't grab a towel.

Normally I lay around naked for an hour before I even get dressed.

I open the bathroom door a crack and look down the hall. Peeta and I'd bedroom door is open.

"Peeta?" I call. Seconds later, I hear footsteps on the stairs.

"Yeah?" He asks.

"Is anyone up here?"

"Just me and you, why?"

"Nobody's coming up here?"

"No..." He looks confused. "I mean, the kids are asleep in the guest room but," his eyes dart to the door. "The doors shut."

"Good." I say.

"Why?"

I open the door all the way. His hand clamps over his mouth. I dart across the hall to our room and shut the door.

Seconds later, he comes in and shuts the door.

"What are you doing?"

"I forgot clothes." I shrug. "Um...when I lived alone I normally walk around naked for a while after I get out of the shower um...I don't have to do that anymore because..." I trail off.

"By all means, you can walk around nude all the time."

"No because you react." I gesture to the bulge in his pants, which makes him shut the door.

"I mean...your attractive and your mine."

He pulls my wet, naked body against himself. "All mine."

"Yes." I kiss his cheek and then go to the dresser and grab white panties. I pull them on and he pulls his shift over his head and offers it to me. I pull it on and some thick socks. I begin to brush my hair.

"May I?" He asks.

"By all means." I say.

He takes the hairbrush and begins to brush my hair.

He keeps brushing and brushing until his boner is gone and then I go downstairs and he follows me. Nobody says anything about the fact that I'm only wearing his shirt and underwear.

PEET'S POV

She doesn't understand the effect she has on people. She's so perfect and I love her so much.

Right now, everyone is falling asleep, including her. She's sitting next to me and her head keeps falling forwards and then she sighs and puts her head back on my shoulder. Everyone moves to their blow up mattresses and Katniss lays down on the couch on her side. She uses my legs as her pillow, and she never legs go of my hand.

She falls asleep, and her legs sprawl open. Rye clears his throat loudly and gesture at her crotch.

I shut her legs and move her shirt, but she wakes up and mumbles for me to let her be, and then she opens her legs again.

I stand up, deciding it's time for both if us to go to bed. I'm so overtired it's unhealthy and Katniss is tired too. I oick her up and say goodnight in all if our behalfs.

"Peeta." Mrs. Everdeen says.

"Yes?" I ask, shifting Katniss when she lifts her head up and then drops it back on my shoulder.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm overjoyed that your marrying my daughter. There is nobody better for her than you. I'm proud to call

You my almost son-in-law. I know you'll treat her wonderfully, even when she is a pain in the ass."

I smile. "Thanks."

"No problem." She says.

I say goodnight and I love you to everyone again and then I carry Katniss upstairs. With one arm, I peel back the covers on her side and lay her down. I shut the light off and cover her up. She moves to the center of the bed. I scoot her back over and take off my jeans and after putting them in the hamper, I lay down, and she sits up and looks at me and then she grins and lays down again, rests her head over my heart, and falls asleep for the night.

I follow soon after her.

...9...

She keeps falling asleep on my arm and it's so cute. The kids are opening presents and it's four in the morning. She isn't letting go of my hand. Right now she's wearing a red long sleeve shirt with no bra on that has a reindeer on the front, and then white pajama pants and her hair is down and she's half awake, leaning against me with her head on my shoulder. Her head keeps falling forward and then he catches herself, sighs quietly to herself and then puts her head back and shifts my arm around. I know she feels bad. Finally, she gets up and goes into the kitchen and flicks on the light. I hear the fridge open, and then shut again, and then I hear the water run for a minute and I hear a clang and then the cabinets opening and slamming shut, and then the coffee machine starts.

Normally, and I know this from spending four christmas's with her, but normally, everyone makes her come back into the living room until the kids are done, but nobody does now because everyone saw her falling asleep.

I hear the water start again, and then she walks to the the side of the kitchen and back to the side she was on. Then, she goes over to the side she was originally on and then I hear nothing but the coffee, the ripping of paper, and the squealing of the kids. Then, I hear her moving around again, and she comes in with two cups of coffee, and hands one to me.

"Where's my coffee?" Madge demands. Katniss looks at me.

"In the pot." And then she sits back down.

"Why'd you get him coffee?" She demands.

"I didn't get him coffee, I got him tea because he doesn't like coffee." She says.

"But I can get coffee?" Madge asks.

"Go ahead." She says. Madge walks into the kitchen.

"You didn't out any sugar or-"

"No sugar and no milk." She says.

"Okay." He smiles. "I didn't think you remembered that."

The kids are done opening their gifts.

All of our families developed the tradition that the adults get their gifts when everyone is gone. The first Christmas the adults opened their gifts in front of the kids, the kids all cried because they didn't have anything else to open.

She gives me a tired smile and kisses my cheek. "I remember everything, especially about you." She reminds me. The kids are playing with their gifts now.

"Why, aside from the fact that you have a photographic memory?" I ask.

She smiles. "Because I love you."

I eye her for a moment, and then I kiss her lightly.

"I love you too."

After snacks tonight, my family is leaving to go back home. Tomorrow, everyone else leaves.

Katniss doesn't know it yet, but we're going on a vacation.

I think we deserve it. I haven't seen my fiancé in a year and a month. I think I have a right to take her away for a while.

We're driving, too. I'm excited.

We're leaving the day after they leave, and we'll fly back unless she doesn't want to.

...9...

"You better sleep." Katniss whispers when my family leaves and everyone goes off to their hotels. We won't see the Everdeen's again because they're going to Denver for their hotel and then they'll leave tomorrow.

"I will." I say. "I promise."

"Now." She says.

"But-"

"We are not fucking." She says. I sigh. "Peeta, you haven't slept...please?"

"I will..." I hug her and bury my head in her shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

I get up pretty early and start packing her clothes. She isn't going to know, but when she finds out that I didn't get a full night sleep, she's going to get pissed.

I pack up anything I know she's going to want and rush downstairs and put her bag in the car. She won't even know. Gale, Reed and Finnick come outside, and we start chatting. I'm out there for at least an hour talking to them, and when I go in the house, she's standing in the living room, dressed for work, which confuses me, with her arms crossed, her lips set in a straight line.

She is _not_ happy.

"How long did you sleep? I know you didn't get a full night again." She shoots.

I don't answer her, and she sighs angrily and grabs her car keys, her purse, ties her hair back, grabs her name tag, and her purse.

"I thought you didn't have to work." I say.

"I didn't, but my boss called and the only person that _can_ work today quit three days ago, so now I'm being called because I'm the only one in the fucking state. Aside from Christa, but she's working. We have to have at least two servers and theres only one so…whatever. I'm so fucking done with everything."

"So now you don't get vacation?"

"Now I don't get vacation." She says.

"Oh." I bite my lip. "Well this fucked up everything." I run my fingers through my hair.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you when you get home. Do you want me to drive you?"

"No." she shakes her head. "Go to sleep, and if you don't do that, can you at least take the list on the refrigerator and go to the store?"

"Sure. I'll do anything you ask."

"Anything?" she asks, opening the front door.

"Yes."

"Good, sleep till noon, and then go to the store. I work double shifts today so I won't be home til ten."

"At night!?" I exclaim.

"Yes, at night."

"That's not fair."

"I know." She sighs. "I'm really sorry, Peeta…" she bites her lip and I see her bad mood soften slightly.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

She sighs and the softness disappears, and then she walks out without a word or goodbye.

KATNISS'S POV

I get to the work and the first thing I realize is we're going to be fucking busy as shit today because it's the day after a major holiday so everyone is too lazy to cook for themselves.

Christa is a god friend of mine and she can hardly wave at me before someone is requesting for another drink.

Then I realize that I was sort of a bitch to Peeta and I just left and didn't even tell him bye or that I love him.

Fuck my life. I'm such a terrible person.

…a…

It's between noon and dinner that we even out to three costumers, all of which are seated on Christa's side of the restaurant. I'm sitting at the bar.

I feel someone tap my shoulder and I'm expecting it to be a costumer, but it's Peeta.

I smile. "What are you doing here?" I stand up and hug him.

"I wanted to see you." He says. "It's dead here. They should let you out."

He looks sexy as fuck and I don't even answer him. He's wearing light colored blue jeans that are tight in the crotch region and in the ass region. It shows his dick and his ass straining and it's sexy as fuck.

Not only that, but he's wearing a white V-neck that's tight and shows his muscles, and then a black leather jacket over that. I can tell he just showered because his hair is damp and curly. He looks good, and I can tell he slept.

"See something you like?" he asks, gently lifting my eyes up to his.

"Um…I…uh…" I stammer.

He starts laughing. Christa looks up, and we lock eyes, and then she quickly finishes with her table and comes walking over.

"Are you Peeta?" she demands.

He raises his eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"Shit." she says, and she looks at me. "Shit! I thought you were exaggerating."

Peeta looks at me and back at Christa.

"I'm Christa. I've been friends of your _fiancé's_ for about five years now. She's spoken about you for five years. It's nice to finally meet the person that is in almost every conversation we have. Even the ones that have nothing to do with you, she somehow twists it so you are in the conversation."

My entire face starts getting really hot, and then my ears and neck.

Peeta raises his eyebrows. "Really?" he looks at me. "Like what?"

"Nothing." I scowl at the both of them, and they both smile.

"I met her about…three days after you guys broke up. I watched her be all depressed for four years, and then her come running in one day with the biggest smile on her face, and then her telling me how you guys ran into each other and fucked and how you were at her ho and all that, and the next thing I know, she comes in all upset and says your gone for a year or so and now look, your back, and she's…in a terrible mood. What's up with that?"

"I'm just mad." I shrug.

"Why? Because you're here and not home?"

I say nothing, and she nods.

"I wanted to talk to you about that, actually." Peeta says.

"About what?"

"We'll just talk about it when you get home." He says.

"Okay?" I frown. He smiles.

"I have to go. I have cold food in the car."

"Okay. Did you sleep?" I ask.

"I slept until one thirty." He says.

"You promise?"

"I promise." He says.

"Okay…" I say.

"Okay, I'm leaving."

"Okay." I look around to make sure my boss isn't around, and then I kiss him. "I love you."

"And I love you." He tucks the lose hair from my braid behind my ear. "I'll see you later."

"Okay." I whisper.

He says goodbye to Christa and shakes her hand and walks out, leaving her with her jaw half open.

"He's such a gentlemen."

"I know." I smile.

…l…

When I get home, he's awake, and he's standing in the living room with the TV off in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

He's been staring at the front door.

"Finally!" he pulls me into a tight hug.

I hug him back, and then I put everything on the table by the door and shut the door and lock it, and then I take off everything but my underwear and take his shirt.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"  
"About your job." He says. "Hear me out. If the answers no, I completely understand. It's just an idea an I don't want you to feel forced because we're engaged."

"Okay…" I trail off.

"Well…I was thinking that I could put your name on both of my bakeries. I know it's _Mellark's Bakery_ but you're going to be a Mellark. Then, technically, you would have a job, you would get money, and you wouldn't have to work at Applebee's."

I'm silent for a very long time. "It's a great idea…but…I would feel so…" I search for the correct word. "I don't know what word to use, but…you worked so hard on both of the bakeries and here I would be, getting money by doing nothing the whole time."

"But…you did do something for it." He says.

"Like what?" I ask.

"Like design the bakery. Both of them, actually. I had one of your sketches of what you imagined for a store to be like from when you were in college and I used it for both of them. You designed them and you didn't even realize it. And it's because of _you_ that I go the second one done. You were my motivation. You helped a lot, Katniss. You didn't do nothing. It seems wrong _not_ to put your name on them."

"What about Rye and Graham?"

"They don't want their names on it; they just want it to be in the papers that they helped open it."

"I don't know…I mean…I want to but…I just…it feels wrong."

"I don't think it's wrong."

I yawn tiredly. "I suppose your right."

"So?" he asks.

"So…I mean…if you're okay with it."

"I am more than okay with it! I would've done it anyways once we get married."

"Okay…"

"But this means I have to go back out of town." He says.

I can't help it.

I'm so tired and I just got him back. I don't want to lose him again.

I start crying with my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It would only be for a day anyways! Just one day! I could leave in the morning and come back at night. You wouldn't even have to spend a night alone!"

"You promise?" I whimper.

"I promise." He whispers.

I just keep crying, and finally he mumbles, "I think it's time for you to go to bed." He picks up my dirty clothes and carries me upstairs. He puts my clothes in the hamper, lays me down, tucks me in, climbs in next to me, and pulls me against him.

"So I would quit my job?"

"If that's what you want. It would be more time together for us." He whispers.

"Okay. I'll quit." I whisper. "Peeta, what did you job mess up this morning?"

The muscles in his stomach tighten. "Nothing, listen, I'm going to book a flight for tomorrow morning and tomorrow night. I'll be back. You can quit tomorrow, if you want, and then just wait around. I'll be home tomorrow."

"Okay. I love you." I whisper.

I think he says I love you too, but I fall asleep before I can tell.


	10. Chapter 10

When I wake up, I do not feel his arms around me. I reach across the bed for him, and feel bitter coldness. I sit up and see his phone is gone.

"Peeta?" I call with no reply.

Oh yeah. He's in New York City. I go downstairs and see he left a note on the counter.

_Baby, _

_I know your probably upset I didn't wake you up to say goodbye, but you looked so adorable that I didn't have the heart to do it. Listen, I know your probably upset right now, and I hate to say it but I couldn't get a flight for tonight, so I'll be home tomorrow. (I'm super sorry baby, I tried but they were booked) I'll see you tomorrow. If I don't show up, I could be stuck in a snow storm. Katniss, I love you so much. I'll see you tomorrow. _

_Love, Peeta. _

I sigh and go upstairs and get dressed. I work today but I'm not dressed for work because I'm going to quit.

I get in the car and drive to work. I walk right to the back and go up to my boss.

"I'm resigning." I say.

He looks really upset. "Why?" He asks.

"I have another job and it's going to get me somewhere in life."

He nods. "I understand." He says. "Your last paycheck will come on Friday. Good luck, Katniss."

"Thank you." I walk out.

I get home and Madge comes over. "I'm not doing the interior designing anymore." She says. i don't want to. I'm going back to school

For something else."

I stare at her. "So that's it's your just fucking done?"

"I'm sorry." she says.

I turn around and go upstairs.

She gets the message and leaves.

This is terrible.

...9...

Where are my favorite underwear?

As a matter of fact, most of my clothes are missing. I go downstairs to the washer to see if Peeta started a load, but he didn't.

Where are my clothes?

Where is my fiancé?

Why can't I follow my dream?

Why did Madge leave?

Why is nothing working out?

The reality of everything comes crashing down on my shoulders.

I've just gotten out of the shower, and I curl up on the living room floor, naked, covered in nothing.

The door is locked and the blinds are shut and nobody except for Peeta has a key.

I pull my knees against my chest and cry myself to sleep on the ice cold wooden living room floor.

...9...

"Oh my god!" I hear someone gasp. "Katniss?" I feel warm hands on my body. "Honey."

It's Peeta, I believe. I feel him tuck my hair behind my ear and lift me up. "Katniss, honey, wake up." Peeta whispers. He grabs the blanket off of the back of the couch and covers me with it.

I lift my head off of his shoulder and force my eyes open.

He looks panicked and concerned. "Honey, what happened?"

I start to shiver. He looks tired enough, so he puts his suitcase by the door and carries me upstairs. "Katniss." He whispers. "Baby." He lays me down in bed and sits bedside me, covering me up. "What happened?"

"Madge quit." I mumble, grabbing his hand. "She quit. I can't do anything without her. She quit Peeta."

"Oh baby." He whispers. "Honey." He runs his fingers through my hair.

"I couldn't find any clothes and I was sad because you weren't home and nothing is working out for me anymore so I just...I cried myself to sleep on the floor."

He looks physically pained. "Why didn't you call me honey?"

"I didn't want to bother you." I whisper.

"Oh baby." He lays down next to me and pulls me in his arms. "I am so sorry. I can help if you want me to."

"No. I don't even want to do it anymore. This whole thing had been Madge and I's dream since we were eleven. It's not right to do it without her. I don't know what I'll do now. I don't even want to do it anymore."

He considers this for a long time. "Well...I have an idea." I raise my eyebrows. "Let's get married." He says. "Let's get married. When your last name is Mellark, we can open a bakery here, together, and you can design it, all of it, even the outside. After that, we can work there, that way we are not home all the time and we are still with each other. I want to spend everyone waking, and sleeping moment of forever with you. So, what do you say?"

I'm quiet for a really long time.

"Okay." I say, and his eyes light up. "But," the light in his eyes disappears. "For the wedding...I want it to be somewhere we've never been before."

He frowns. "Alright, if that's what you want."

"And I want it in April."

"April?" He asks. "Honey, it's December."

"I don't care. I want it in April."

"Alright," He says. "April it is."

I get up and go to my dresser and get the little clothes I have and get dressed, and I braid my hair and put on my boots and go outside.

"Katniss." Peeta says, walking out with me since he's still fully dressed with shoes and everything.

"Yes?" I ask.

"I have to tell you something." He says.

"Okay." I stand in front of him. Both of us are outside.

"The reason I didn't sleep the day before yesterday and the reason that you kind of can't find your clothes is because…well…I panned a vacation for us but you had to go back to work and it was supposed to be a surprise and I packed all of your clothes and I haven't gotten around to putting them back yet."

"You planned a vacation for us?"

He hesitates. "I thought we deserved it."

"Honey I don't…I don't have work now."

His eyes light up. "We can still go?"

"I mean…yeah…"

"Let's go then!" he looks like a child at Christmas, so excited. "Now?" I ask.

"Yes!" he grins. "Come on!" he grabs every last minute thing I need and comes running outside, shutting the door and locking it, and then putting me in the car.


	11. Chapter 11

We're driving through the dead country somewhere in Nebraska. My feet are up on the dashboard, and we're not bothering to follow the speed limit because it's nothing but snowy fields out here. I don't know where we are going, and Peeta won't tell me. We don't have the radio on, and I'm just staring out the window and Peeta keeps driving and looking at me and then back at the road.

"Where are we going?" I ask for the millionth time.

He laughs. "We are going somewhere."

"Can I have a hint?"

"Nope."

"Can you _at least_ tell me if it's in the US?"

"Yes it is."

It's still the same day, Thursday, and we've been driving for about five hours.

"Pull over." I say.

"What?"

"Pull over."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Okay…" he pulls over. "What's wrong?"

"Do you know what I've always wanted to do?"

"What?"

"Pull over on the side of the road and fuck."

He raises his eyebrows. "I see." He says.

"But…it's too cold to take our clothes off." I say.

"Eh…I think we can manage."

"No, nope, we can't." I grin evilly.

"What are you going to do?" he asks. I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach across the center console and his lap and move his chair back. "Katniss." He says.

"Shh." I put my finger against his lips.

Already, he's straining with a bulge in his pants. I undo the button on his jeans, and the zipper to show a part of his black, white, and red plaid boxers.

"Katniss." He says. "Fuck,"

I free his dick from the strap.

"Are you going to stop me?" I ask innocently.

He looks how at my hand. "No." he mumbles.

"Good. Don't move."

"What are you doing?"

I ignore him and crawl to the backseat and dig through the suitcase till I find that yellow skirt from college, and then I take off my pants and underwear and put the skirt on and crawl back over to him.

"If you can't tell already, I'm in charge."

…..a…..

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" I ask.

"You aren't driving." He says.

"Why?"

"Because you don't know where we are going."

"Please?" I ask. We're in Kearney, Nebraska.

He sig and pulls into a hotel parking lot.

"Can you stay in the car? I'll be right back."

He gets out and walks away.

When the doors shut behind him, I grab the keys and get out of the car and follow him, locking the doors behind me. I walk into the hotel and go right up to him.

He looks at me and sighs, grinning.

He should know by now that I don't do what I'm told.

He books us a room and turns to me. "Are you hungry?" he asks. I shake my head. "Okay. How abot you go up to the room and I'll get our bags."

"Is this where we're staying?"

"No." he shakes his head.

….l….

My whole family is mad at me.

It's okay. I'm just as angry at them as they are at me.

First, they're pissed because Peeta and I went on vacation and we didn't tell them. I replied with, "Oh, I'm sorry, 'm twenty six, not seventeen. I didn't realize I was still under parental control." And then it went from that to, "You and Peeta hardly know each other now. I think you got engaged too soon." And I was like, "Really? Mom, how long were you with Dad again? Three months? Oh, that's right." Then she said "And look where that got me." and then it went from that to, "You moved out way too son, you weren't fully mature yet. I'm worried." And then I said "It's my life." And then we got into a huge argument over the phone with all of it. It was on speaker and Peeta was sitting there and his face was set as stone and he was keeping his mouth shut. They were like, "Well, it's not right to live off of someone else." And Peeta politely corrected them that I'm not living off of him and I worked on it too. Mom said, "Katniss you can't sleep alone in a strange place." And I said, "I'm _not_ alone, I'm with Peeta! It's a fucking hotel Mom, chill out!" and then she said, "You shouldn't sleep with anyone else except for yourself. Katniss it's time to come home. You're a victim of circumstance." And I said, "No I'm not." And she said, "You don't belong in this family anymore." That's when I started crying, hung up on them, shut my phone off, and locked myself in the bathroom until Peeta's begging an pleading for hours coaxed me out.

Seriously, I only have one person on my side, and that's Peeta.

That was all last night in Nebraska. Now we're driving and I'm so mad I'm shaking.

On top of this, Madge just told me that she's moving to California with Gale. And then I found out Reed and Johanna are moving to Florida, and Finn and Annie are going back to Providence.

I'm to the point where I don't want to be in Breckinridge anymore.

Gale and Reed won't even speak to me. Since Gale won't talk to me, neither will Madge.

So now we're driving, and Peeta's phone starts ringing on the Bluetooth.

It's his Mom.

"Are you oka if I answer it?" Peeta asks.

"I'm good." I whisper, and he answers it.

"Hey Mom." He says.

"God, what the hell did Katniss do!"

He sighs. "She didn't do anything!" he snaps. "Her fucking family is pissed off because she didn't tell them we were going on a vacation."

"You're going on a vacation?"

"Yes, and Katniss didn't tell her family. It went from her not telling them to her and I hardly knowin each other and her needing to come home and how she doesn't listen. The conversation ended with Katniss crying because her mother told her she doesn't belong in their family. Reed, Gale, and Madge won't even speak to her."

I hear whispering on the other line as she explains what happened to the rest of the Mellark's.

"Well is she okay?"

"She's…" he looks at me. "She's being really quiet and after the called she locked herself in the bathroom until three in the morning when I finally got her to come out. Oh, and on top of that, I added her to the bakery and they told her it's not right to live off of other people-"

"The fuck?" Rye shouts in the background. "She isn't living off of you! She fucking helped on the main parts! What the hell?"

"I know, and I told them that but they didn't care. Oh, and all of them are moving and well...I know she isn't saying it, but she doesn't want to stay in Colorado anymore."

I hear a ticking sound in the background. "Can you let her know that…that we're here for her even if her blood isn't. She's family. She belongs to us. It's their loss."

I can tell Peeta's considering to tell them I can hear them, but he looks at me and runs his hand through his hair. "Yeah, I'll tell her."

My phone starts vibrating in my hand. I press answer and listen, not saying a word, because it's my mother.

"I know your listening and I would just like to let you know we've shunned you."

The line goes dead.

Peeta pulls over, and I roll down the window and hurl my phone off of the side of the bridge, right into the river.

Peeta looks alarmed. "Who was it?" he asks, and I hear everyone on the phone go quiet.

"My Mom." I whisper.

"And?" he asks.

"She shunned me." I mumble.

"She _what_?" Mrs. Mellark demands. "Are you…are you kidding?"

"No."

"What the fuck." Graham says.


	12. Chapter 12

I decide to enjoy myself. If my family wants to be a pain in the ass, so be it. I don't give a flying fuck.

Peeta took me to Savanna, Georgia. He rented a beautiful house and it's so much fun here. We go to parks and we even drive out to Six Flags. He's being very careful with me.

"Peeta?" I ask. I've decide that today is going to be a cuddle day, and he agreed.

"Yes?" he asks.

"Can we get married in Fortner Park?"

"If that's what you want me lovely, that's what we'll do." He kisses my head.

"Okay." I yawn. "Peeta?"

"Yes?" he asks.

"Can we move to Wyoming?"

"Near my parents and brothers?" he asks.

"I don't know. I want to move to Wyoming."

He starts rubbing my back. "Katniss, we do anything you want."

"Peeta?" I ask again. He laughs.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"If I'm living off of you…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to be that way. I feel so worthless and stupid and selfish."

"Stop." He says. "You are not living off of me. Katniss, your family are dumbasses to say that. I wish Madge and Johanna the best of lucky being with them. I think this is going to blow over. For now, I want you to ignore it, okay? You're not living off of me."

"Okay. Peeta?"

"Yes?" he asks.

"I want a kid."

His body freezes. "You what?"

"I want a kid. I want our first kid to be adopted, and the other two to be ours."

"You want to adopt a kid?"

"Yes, now."

"Now? What, Katniss…no. at least wait until we're married."

"I want a two year old daughter. I want to be able to do her hair and dress her up in dresses and I want to watch cartoons with her and I want you to read her bedtime stories. Who cares if we aren't married yet? Fuck marriage. Let's elope! Let's elope right now and then adopt a kid and then we can go back to Breckenridge with our kid and we can move to Wyoming and she can make cookies with your mom and play with James and Rebecca! Please Peeta, please? Oh, please?"

"Wait." He sits up. "You need to calm down."

"Peeta I-"

"I know you want to, but that could be right now. I'm perfectly okay with the eloping thing. You know that because I brought it up a few months ago, but for now, you need to think logically bout this. A child is a lot of responsibility. You know I want three kids, two girls and a boy, the boy being the youngest, but still, you need to think this through."

I sigh.

"For now, I want you to sleep a bit, and when you wake up, if you still want to do this…we can, okay?"

PEETA'S POV

I go and call my Mom and explain Katniss's brilliant new idea. She says, although she would love for them to be able to go to our wedding, she completely understands not having a huge wedding, because she and Dad eloped. With the kid thing, she says that we need to think this through. I told her that I'm all down for it, and she said understands that. "Honey, a child isn't as easy as you and Katniss seem to think. A child requires love and care and children get sick. It's another mouth to feed, so money, and clothing. You guys aren't too young, I think, because both of you are twenty six, but still, I want you to think this through."

"Katniss is asleep. I told her when she wakes, if she still wants to do this, we can."

"I think that's fair." She says.

….a….

Katniss is standing in front of me, fully dressed, her hair up in a messy bun. She wears a pair of light blue skinny jeans, a black knit sweat with a white heart in the front, and black leather boots. She's probably been watching me for a while, because I was sleeping and she watches me when I sleep.

It's okay, I do the same to her.

"Well?" I ask.

"I want a kid." She puts her hands on her hips. "Do you think we're ready for this?"

I sit up and run my hands over my face. "Yeah, I think we are. We have to be married first. I don't want to rush this."

"Okay. Let's go get married."

"Katniss, are you ready for this?"

"Yes." She smiles.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I think we should get married, and then we should go home and move to Wyoming, and _then_ we adopt."

"Okay." I say.


	13. Chapter 13

KATNISS'S POV

We got the marriage license. It was easy, really. Peeta keeps asking me over and over and over if this is what I want to do. He wants to know if I'm going to regret it. I've told him over and over that I'm okay with it. We're with the officiate now, and all we need is his signature and then we're married.

I watch him, clinging to Peeta's hand. He signs the paper after reading it over. He's old and writing slow and I'm bouncing up and down and Peeta's grinning at me. We had to go back to Breckenridge, so we just flew in. We haven't even been home yet. He puts his pen in his pocket and hands the paper to Peeta.

"Congratulations." He says.

"Thanks." Peeta says, and he takes the papers and walks out without a word, pulling me with him.

When we get to the car, he pushes me against the door and kisses me till I'm out of breath. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He whispers.

"I love you too." He whispers.

I took his last name. I did it without hesitation. Peeta and I hadn't spoken about if I wanted to take it or now, but I said yes before the guy even got the words out of his lips.

We start kissing again, but he stops. "Let's go." He says. I kiss him again.

"I love you."

"I love you too." He says.

….a….

We're packing. We fucked nine times in a hotel he got us, and then we went home and we're packing. Johanna, Reed, Annie, Finnick, Gale, and Madge haven't moved out yet. They're at home, our front, when we get there.

And they're fighting. Finnick and Reed and Gale are screaming at each other, and the girls are crying.

I want to go and hug Madge, Annie, and Johanna so badly, but I know I can't.

So, we get out of the car and just stand there and listen. I have on a loose tan knit sweater and black leggings and brown leather boots. Peeta and I exchange worried glances.

It takes me a second to realize what they're fighting about. It's about…

It's about me.

"I don't fucking care!" Finnick shouts. "She's twenty six! She doesn't need to tell her Mommy everything!"

"Well her mother is concerned! She should tell her everything!" Reed shouts back.

"she shouldn't be shunned from her family because she didn't tell her mother she was going on vacation!" Finn shouts.

"You're not part of our family, so shut the fuck up!" Gale shouts.

Peeta looks pissed off.

Oh, and we stopped at a jewelry store on the way home and go the wedding bands. His is gold, and mine is gold with diamonds incrusted in it. I paid for his and he paid for mine and I asked him if he wanted diamonds and he said no.

"She's a fuck up anyways!" Reed shouts at Finn.

I'm a fuck up? My own brother is calling me a fuck up?

"She's not a fuck up!" Madge shouts, and they all fall silent. Madge is with Gale. She should be on their side.

"What?" Gale demands.

"I said she's not a fuck up. This whole fight is stupid. She's my best friend. Your family is being ridiculous. I don't even want to be a part of it. The only reason I've stuck around it because of her ad you. She's the sister I've never had. Madge walks off the steps to stand next to me.

"Reed." Johanna turns to him. "She's not a fuck up."

"Yes she is!"

"No she's not." Peeta snaps.

"Peeta." I whisper. "Don't."

"Well someone has to do it!" he says.

"I can speak for myself." I say. "It's okay."

"Let me finish." Johanna says. She turns back to reed.

"What?" Reed demands. "She's a fucked up son of bitch!"

Alright, it's my turn. Johanna opens her mouth to reply but I jump in.

"I'm a fucked up son of a bitch?" I ask. "I'm sorry; Mom told me that I moved out too soon. You and I moved out at the same time and the same age. I'm not fucked up. I'm your sister. I'm twenty six years old! I don't need to tell my Mom when I'm going out of town! She doesn't even live in the fucking state! And your acting thirteen. If I'm a fucked up son of a bitch, that makes you a fucked up son of a bitch because we're siblings with the same parents. We were raised the same way. Yes, I may have some problems, but I can assure you, that right now, none of them have anything to do with you or the rest of your family. I'm so done listening to this bullshit! I don't need you guys telling me how to run my life. When you guys want me back, go ahead and give me a call. I'm going to be here. For now, don't bother me."

"I don't have problems."

"I would ask you to prove it, but I'm not sticking around long enough to find out." I go in Peeta and I's house and slam the door, and go right down to the basement and start getting boxes. The fighting starts again, but this time, Peeta's in it too. I start packing.

….a….

They fight all night, and I finish packing our stuff. I go outside with box after box and start loading up my truck and Peeta's truck. Johanna starts helping me.

Madge starts helping too.

"Where are you guys moving to?" Annie asks.

"Wyoming."

"Why?" Johanna asks. "What's in Wyoming?"

"My only real family."

"Katniss." Madge says. "Why do you have two rings on your left hand?"

"Because Peeta and I eloped."

"Really?" she asks, and I nod. "That's wonderful. I'm happy for you."

"Me too." Jo says, and Annie nods.

I finish loading up the trucks. Now all that's left is the furniture but I don't know if we're taking it or leaving it.

"Peeta." I say.

"Not now." He says, and he continues arguing. I make a snowball and peg it at him.

"Are we taking the furniture?" I demand.

"I don't know." He says.

"Well we need to find a house."

"We can stay at my parents." He says.

"Fine." I say. "We'll leave the damn furniture."

I call the retailer and take care of everything, and the cable company and the water and the electric and anything else I need shut off, and then I call Mrs. Mellark and talk to her. He goes right back to fighting. I hear Madge shriek outside, and I get off the phone and rush outside. Peeta and Finnick are fighting Gale and Reed.

When all our attempts of trying to get them to stop, I do the only thing I can think of. I call the cops.

I let them fight, and then the cops are showing up and ripping them apart. Peeta's nose is bleeding and so are Finn, Reed's, and Gale's.

They explain what they're fighting about, and surprisingly, he lets them off with a three hundred and seventy five dollar fine.

"Hell, if I were you, I'd kick their ass for messing with my girlfriend too." He lets go of Peeta's shirt. He wipes the blood away from his nose.

"She isn't my girlfriend, she's my wife." He says.

"Oh, I'd have killed them." He says.

"He's lying. They're not married." Gale snaps.

"Yes we are!" Peeta rushes him again, and the cops rip him off.

"Where is she?" the cop asks.

"She's right there." He points at me.

"Are you married?"

"Yes." I show him the two rings and he nods.

They push Peeta towards me and I shove him in the house. The cops leave, and I go inside. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" I snap at him.

"They fucking deserve it. I don't care who they are. Nobody is allowed to talk about you like that." He snaps. I sigh and go into the kitchen and get the paper towels, which I left out. I start the water, but it doesn't work because I had it shut off. I go out the back door and get some snow and wet the paper towel with it.

"Hold that on there." I whisper.

"Are we all packed?" he asks.

"Yes." I say.

"Katniss." He says. "I owe you an apology."

"We're leaving." I say. "Let's go."

"Katniss." He says.

"Let's go." I repeat.

"I'm really sorry." He says.

"It's fine Peeta. I would've done the same thing." I kiss the top of his head. "Let's go."

He follows me out. I get him my truck and he gets in his, and then we're off to Wyoming.


	14. Chapter 14

We get to the Mellark's at four in the morning. It was eight thirty when we left and we drove straight through. He doesn't bother knocking; he just walks in and shut the door loud enough to make everyone come downstairs.

"Oh, you guys must be exhausted." Mr. Mellark says.

I'm not, actually.

"Oh, let me see the rings!" Mrs. Mellark says, grabbing both of our left hands. "Beautiful." She smiles. "How are you?" she asks me.

I shrug. "I'm annoyed."

She looks at Peeta. "Fighting?"

He crosses his arms. "They called her a worthless son of a bitch."

"Well, I would've kicked their ass." Graham says.

"See?" he says. "They deserved it."

"I'm going to bed." Peeta says, and he looks at me. "Coming?"

I nod, and he takes my hand and pulls me upstairs.

….a….

"Katniss." Mrs. Mellark says. "I think you should tell your family your thought on this whole situation." It's morning. Peeta's still dead asleep. Everyone is wide awake and I really want to go and adopt our baby girl today but I don't know if that's going to happen.

"I feel like…if I tell them, they will get angrier."

"So? They need to hear your thoughts on this. Either way, your still part of the Everdeen family. They love you. Although they may not be able to find the love, it's there. I think this is all going to blow over."

"I'm not very good at…saying how I feel."

"So write a poem." Rye says.

"Oh, no, I can't do that." Arm lock around my waist from behind. Peeta kisses the side of my neck and then he nuzzles my shoulder and sighs.

"Write a song." Peeta says.

I turn around in his arms and hug him. He hugs me back, and we're quiet for a while. "I think you need to tell them." He says. "You should sing it."

"I don't want to sing."

"Why? Katniss I've know you since you were sixteen and not once have I ever heard you sing."

"I don't like singing."

"Please?" he begs.

"Fine, I'll sing them a song." I say. "I'll send a mass text to my family of the video."

"I'll take the video." Peeta says.

"We'll watch!" Mrs. Mellark says.

"I have the perfect song." I walk into the living room and hand Peeta my phone.

"Should I say anything?" I ask.

"No. If it's a good song that gets the message across, I think it'll be good." Mrs. Mellark says.

"Okay…tell me when to start."

"I'll gesture." He says. I wait for the signal.

I've played this song on the piano once in my entire life, but I remember the whole thing.

Peeta gives me the signal, and when I start playing, I see from the corner of my eye Peeta grin.

This song is called My Life, by Billy Joel.

_Got a call from an old friend_

_We used to be real close_

_Said he couldn't go on the American way_

_Closed the shop, sold the house_

_Bought a ticket to the West Coast_

_Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A._

_I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright_

_I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home_

_I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life_

_Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone_

_I never said you had to offer me a second chance_

_I never said I was a victim of circumstance_

_I still belong, don't get me wrong_

_And you can speak your mind_

_But not on my time_

_They will tell you you can't sleep alone_

_In a strange place_

_Then they'll tell you you can't sleep_

_With somebody else_

_Ah, but sooner or later you sleep_

_In your own space_

_Either way it's okay_

_You wake up with yourself_

_I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright_

_I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home_

_I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life_

_Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone_

_I never said you had to offer me a second chance_

_I never said I was a victim of circumstance_

_I still belong, don't get me wrong_

_And you can speak your mind_

_But not on my time_

_I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life_

_Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone_

I stop playing. "Okay, it's done." Peeta says.

I turn around to face them.

"Your voice is impeccably amazing." Mrs. Mellark says.

"Thank you." I say.

"Are you guys getting a kid?" Rye asks.

"Yes." Peeta says. "Speaking of..." He looks at me and raises his eyebrows. "Do you want to go do that?"

"Yes." I say.

"I want to come." Audrey, Peeta's cousin says. She's sixteen.

"No." Aunt Jessica says, her mother. She sighs.

"Okay. Just let me get dressed and showered and everything and I'll be right down." He says, and he hands me my phone and darts upstairs.

I go and pick every single person in my family and attach the video to the text and write "hey, I know you guys hate me and all but this is just my thoughts on this."

I send it and then wait. The first reply I get is from Effie.

Effie: if that's how you feel

The next one is from Reed.

Reed: k

Haymitch: I need to talk to you. I don't care where you are or what state your in. I need to talk to you. I'm not looking to cause any trouble.

Mom: this is just rude and immature of you to do

I run my fingers through my hair.

Me: so is kicking your daughter out of the family.

Mom: ok Katniss whatever you say

I decide to message back Haymitch.

Me: I don't know about that.

Haymitch: I want to help you

Me: help me how?

Haymitch: where's Peeta?

Me: He's upstairs

Haymitch: do you have a house

Me: no

Haymitch: k

I don't get a reply from anyone else.

But then my phone starts ringing.

"Who is it?" Rye asks.

"Kale." I hesitate. Then I give in. "Hello?" I ask.

"I don't have much time." He says. "This is fucked up. Your twenty six and you can do whatever the fuck you want. I don't know where you are or what your doing but I want you to know that I love you and I'm here for you no matter what and that I'm moving out to wherever you are. I love you Katniss.

Me: moms gonna kill you

Kale: I'm eighteen so I can do what the fuck I want.

Me: okay...

Kale: I have to go! Text me!

The line goes dead.

"Who was that?" Peeta asks. He's wearing a gray long sleeve v-neck that's tight like that shirt he wore when he came to visit at work, and a pair of black jeans and tan shoes.

"Kale." I say. I explain everything he told me.

"He's too young to live alone even though he is eighteen. He'll need a roommate and he doesn't have one." Peeta says.

I get a text.

Kale: Haymitch is paying for it. Where are you

Me: Sheridan, Wyoming

Kale: okay

"Haymitch is paying for it." I say. "Whatever. Let's just forget it for now."

"Okay." He nods. "We'll be back."

"With my grand baby?" Mrs. Mellark asks.

"That's the plan." Peeta says, and he pulls me out the door.

We drive to the foster home that we passed on the way here and stop at Walmart. We get a car seat and some clothes for a two year old girl and diapers and wipes and desitin and baby powder. We'll go back when we need something else. We go to the foster home after we set up the car seat in the parking lot and pull in the driveway. It said on their website that we can just show up and have everything take care of.

He knocks. A girl probably fifteen answers the door. "Mom." She says. "There's people here."

I can hear the squealing of children in the house and giggling.

A woman comes to the door. "How can I help you?" She asks.

"You run a foster home?" Peeta asks.

"Yes. Are you looking to adopt?"

"Yes." He says, and she smiles. "Well, come on in." She leads us to an office and shuts the door. "Are you looking for a specific age?" She asks. "Gender?"

"We want a little girl." Peeta says. "Around two years old."

"We have one. She's quiet. She loves baby dolls and she likes to cuddle. She doesn't talk much. I think she just wishes someone would play with her. Her name is Erin Lily. I'll go and get her." She walks out.

I look at Peeta and take a deep breath. "Are you having second thoughts?" he asks.

"No. Are you?" I ask.

He smiles and shakes his head. "No. I'm nervous though."

"Me too." I mumble.

The lady comes back holding the hand if an adorable toddler. She was probably a premature baby. I can tell because she is only up to my knees. Se has brown hair down to about an inch past her shoulders and wide, curious brown eyes. She has baby doll lips.

She is the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever landed on.

The woman shuts the door and drops the child's hand. The little girl stands there. She has a baby doll dangling from her hand and it only has one arm and one eye.

"Hi." She says.

"Hi." I smile. Peeta and I squat down in front of her.

"What's your name honey?" Peeta asks. She sits down on the floor.

"I'm Erin Lily. I'm this much."

She holds up six fingers.

"We haven't quite gotten her good with numbers. Or colors."

I nod at the women and turn back to Erin.

She's staring at me and then she walks over to me and grabs my braid and touches it. Her grip is so soft and gentle. She looks at her hair and she looks confused.

"Why do I no look like that?" She asks.

"Because I made my hair look like that. See?" I take my hair out of the braid.

Her tiny lips form an O and she follows the waves of my hair with her hand.

"What your name?" She asks.

"I'm Katniss, and this is Peeta."

She smiles then. Her teeth are perfectly straight. "Okay."

She sits down again and starts playing with her doll.

I wNt this child. I want to tuck her in and sing to her and cuddle with her.

She is perfect.

I look at Peeta and see he's thinking the same thing.

We both stand up.

"Do you want me to give you a minute?" She asks.

"No, I think we're good." Peeta says, and I nod.

"And?" She asks.

"We want to adopt her. How does this work?"

"Are you married?" she asks, and we nod.

She starts explaining the process. She sits us down at desk chairs and as we're talking, Erin walks over to us and crawls into my lap. She shoves her thumb in her mouth, rests her head against my chest, and goes to sleep.

We sign all the papers and anything.

"Okay." She says. "When we gets older, she's going to ask about her parents. I'm sure you know that. We don't know anything. We have their names, where she was born and all that. We know they just out her up for adoption. Her mother was fifteen and her father was, too. She was born in Austin, Texas. We don't have the hospital name. She loves dolls

And cuddling. She loves bedtime stories and she's afraid of the dark." She pauses. "That's all."

"So we can just...leave?"

"Yes."

She says. I stand up, shifting her so she's still sleeping.

"Thank you." I say.

"The pleasure is all mine. I'm going to have to stop by your house in a couple weeks to make sure she's okay. I'll just pop in when you get your house."

"Thanks." Peeta says.

We walk out.

"Do you want her?" I ask Peeta. He carefully takes her from my hands. I watch him out her in her car seat. We get in and start the half hour drive back to the Mellark's. We stop at Walmart again and he runs inside and gets her a new baby doll. When we pull up at the Mellark's, she wakes up. I get out and unbuckle her. She raises her arms at me and I lift her out of her seat.

"Are you Mommy?" She asks.

"Yes, and he's Daddy." I point at Peeta. She stares at him.

"I want down please." She says. I out her down and she walks ahead of us, jumping around in the snow all the way to the front door.

She's singing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We open the front door. "It's the Mickey Mouse clubhouse! Come inside it's fun inside!" She giggles and I smile. She's so cute. Peeta and I leave the bags of her stuff by the door. She goes walking in the living room with her new doll. We follow her. Everyone is standing up. She sits down in the middle of everyone and starts playing with her new doll.

"She's adorable. What's her name?"

"Erin Lily Mellark." I say.

"That's perfect." Mrs. Mellark says.

...8...

"I can't believe I agreed to this." I mutter.

I'm going to meet Haymitch and Kale at Starbucks. Peeta's sleeping so I have Erin with me. She's dead asleep right now. I'm sitting in the parking lot staring at Haymitch's car.

I brace myself and get out. I go around to Erin's door and unbuckle her and pick her up. I grab her diaper bag. She has her doll in her hand. I lock the car and go inside.

They're sitting in the back. It's clear they're thinking I'm not going to show up. I walk over to them. They look at me, and both of their faces show shock. Yeah, I told them I'm a mother now but still, they look shocked.

I sit down across from them. "I'm just letting you know now that if you upset me or Erin, I'm leaving."

"Where's Peeta?" Kale asks.

"He's asleep." I reply.

"Alright." Haymitch says. "I'm not here to harass you and tell you what to do because I think what they're doing is wrong and the only way this situation can be mended is if your mother is the one that steps it up and apologizes. I advise you don't contact her until then. Now, I know you and Peeta don't have much money so I want to help." He slides a paper across the coffee table. I see a two story house with giant windows and two garage doors. The garage door is on the flat ground. You go up stairs to get to the glass front door. Everything that is not glass is stone. I can see from the photo that on the third floor, the second living floor, there is a glass hand railing for the staircase.

"Nice." I say.

"Want it?"

he asks. I look at the price.

"This house is 949,000 dollars!" I exclaim.

"So?" He asks. "You, my nephew, I guess, and my niece." He gestures to Erin. "Are worth it."

I narrow my eyes.

"What's the catch?"

He smirks. "Your brother here." He pats Kale's shoulder. "Is moving in across the street. It's your job to take care of him."

I look at Kale and he grins evilly. Erin moves her head and then lifts her eyes up.

"Mommy." Erin cries. She starts looking all around. "Where is here?"

"We're at Starbucks." I run my fingers through my hair. "It's okay."


	15. Chapter 15

MRS. EVERDEEN'S POV

We went to Busch gardens today. Something is missing. We're driving back to my house in Ponce Inlet from Orlando. Madge and Gale moved to Florida instead of California and Reed and Johanna are here.

I think about Katniss everyday. I think about what I did. I wonder how she's doing. I wonder how Peeta's doing. I talk to Kale everyday. I want to call her and tell her how much I love her, but I'm nervous and I don't feel right about it. It's February first and it's been about two months since all of it happened.

I'm ignoring the nagging in my mind and tone into the conversation between the kids.

"Yeah." Madge smiles. Suddenly, she blurts, "oh my god, I remeber when Kat and I went to that I've cream parlor and we forgot to pay! Katniss felt so bad! We went back though, and Katniss gave them an extra fifty."

Nobody acknowledges her. She tries so hard but we ignore her.

A song comes on the radio.

"Oh, I love this song!" Madge shoots forward and turns up the radio.

_If you're going out with someone new_

_I'm going out with someone too_

_I won't feel sorry for me, I'm getting drunk_

_But I'd much rather be somewhere with you_

_Laughing loud on a carnival ride, yeah_

_Driving around on a Saturday night_

_You made fun of me for singing my song_

_Got a hotel room just to turn you on_

_You said pick me up at three a.m._

_You're fighting with your mom again_

_And I'd go, I'd go, I'd go somewhere with you_

Suddenly, the whole song changes and I see Peeta singing this about Katniss.

_I won't sit outside your house_

_And wait for the lights to go out_

_Call up an ex to rescue me, climb in their bed_

_When I'd much rather sleep somewhere with you_

_Like we did on the beach last summer_

_When the rain came down and we took cover_

_Down in your car, out by the pier_

_You laid me down, whispered in my ear_

_I hate my life, hold on to me_

_Ah, if you ever decide to leave_

_Then I'll go, I'll go, I'll go_

I start getting lightheaded so I pull over.

Am I the reason my baby girl could hate her life? Did I cause her pain? Why did I do this? She's twenty six. She doesn't need to tell me when she's leaving town.

_I can go out every night of the week_

_Can go home with anybody I meet_

_But it's just a temporary high 'cause when I close my eyes_

_I'm somewhere with you, somewhere with you_

_If you see me out on the town_

_And it looks like I'm burning it down_

_You won't ask and I won't say_

_But in my heart I'm always somewhere with you_

_Laughing loud on a carnival ride, yeah_

_Driving around on a Saturday night_

_You made fun of me for singing my song_

_Got a hotel room just to turn you on_

_You said pick me up at three a.m._

_You're fighting with your mom again_

_And I'd go, I'd go, I'd go_

Fighting with her mom again...

_I can go out every night of the week_

_Can go home with anybody I meet_

_But it's just a temporary high 'cause when I close my eyes_

_I'm somewhere with you, somewhere with you_

_Somewhere with you_

_I'm somewhere with you_

_I'm somewhere with you_

_Somewhere with you_

_Somewhere with you_

I feel like in gonna pass out. I rest my head on the steering wheel.

"Mom?" Reed asks.

"Aunt Lily? Are you okay?"

"God, what have I done?"

"What are you talking about?" Madge asks.

"Did you hear that song? It's like..." I pinch the bridge of my nose and take three deep breaths. "It's like Peeta's singing that sing or something. I can almost see her...telling him she hates her life. I can see her sitting alone in a dark house, crying at three in the morning and then texting Peeta. God. I've caused her pain."

Nobody says anything for a little while.

"Me too." Reed says.

"Me too." Gale says.

We don't say anything for a long time.

I roll down the window to get some fresh air. I continue the drive home, and we pull up in the driveway. I go right upstairs and get my photo album, Katniss's baby book and the family album, and then I get the key and go to Katniss's bedroom door and unlock it. Since the fight, I locked the door and left the room the same.

"Mom." Reed says.

"Don't bother me for an hour." I say. I shut the door and lock it and then I sit down on her bed and start going through the photos.

It hurts so much to see her smiling face. I have one photo from when she was a toddler and she was crying.

I can imagine her crying now. The sobs shaking her body, Peeta soothing her.

I should be the one there for her. Peeta should too, since they're engaged, but I should be there so she can call me.

I almost start crying.

What have I done?

I go downstairs and grab the house phone.

"Who are you calling?" Madge asks.

Should I go to her, or should I call her?

I'm gonna call her to start out.

No. I should go to her. A phone call can't fix this. This way, I can see her face.

I don't know where she lives though...

I call Kale.

"Sup Mom." He says.

"Where does Katniss live?" I ask.

He's quiet.

"I am not telling you that."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because I don't think it's appropriate for the situation." He says.

"Okay love you bye."

"Love you too bye."

I call Haymitch.

"Hi." He says.

"Where does Katniss live?"

"Why do you want to know?" He asks.

"Because I want to go see her."

"To stress her out even more?" He asks.

"No, because I need to see my daughter. Where is she?"

He sighs. "She lives in Sheridan, Wyoming. Her address is 35 Canyon View Drive, 82801, Sheridan, Sheridan County, Wyoming."

I quickly write it down.

"Okay thanks."

"Wait." He stops me.

"What?"

"You need to fix this. This is your fault and you damn well know it. She's your fucking kid. You don't treat your child like that. Also, she was going to fix this a week or two after it happened. I made her wait because she wasn't the one that started it. You better fucking fix this."

He hangs up on me.

I sigh and put the phone back on the dock.

"I'm going to Wyoming." I announce.

Madge looks so excited. "Really?" She asks.

"Yes." I go upstairs and start to pack. I don't know where I'll stay. I'll just get a hotel for now and go from there. I go online and buy a plane ticket for that night, which costs 799 dollars, tax included, and then I wait till it's time to go.

KATNISS'S POV

It's seven in the morning on the dot. Peeta's at his Mother's to go get Madison because we left her over there until we were fully unpacked and comfortable in our new house. Erin woke us up at six and said, "Me bored play with me?" Peeta left right after he made breakfast.

Erin is in her diaper on the living room floor, playing with her dolls and squealing. I'm trying to break her from watching so much TV.

"Me huggy!" She says. She's hungry.

"No your not. Your bored." I say.

"We watch TV?"

"No honey, play with Lucy." I say. Lucy is her doll.

Someone rings the doorbell.

"Who is here at seven in the morning?" I mutter. I'm only in a t-shirt and underwear. I don't even have a bra on.

"I gots it!" Erin drops her doll and gets up and runs for the door. I follow her because I don't need my two year old opening the door by herself.

I stop short and just stare at her.

My Mother is here?

The silence is awkward. Erin moves behind my legs and starts sucking her thumb.

"Katniss." Mom says. "We need to talk." She looks at Erin but doesn't say a word.

I'm scared. I know she would never hurt me, or my daughter, but I wish that Peeta was home.

Slowly though, I move out of the way and allow her in the house.

"Just give me a sec..." I say. She nods and sits down on the couch and looks around. I go upstairs, taking Erin with me. I I go Peeta and I's room and change into sweatpants, a beige bra, and a white tank top, and then I go downstairs again. Mom is still in the same stop, looking at the pictures on the wall.

My hair is down and flowing down my back in waves. Erin tugs my sweats. "Puppy!" She points at the window behind my mother, which grabs both of our attention and makes up look out the window. Erin goes running to the window, climbing onto the back of the couch and presses her hands on the glass, and her nose. I hear two doors shut.

Peeta's home. Oh thank god.

"Where does Kale live?" Mom asks.

"Um...do you see that little house, the white one, with the yellow trim?" I ask.

"They're all white, honey." She says.

She called me honey.

Does she still love me?

I need to not get so over my head.

"Okay...um. It's the house to the right of the one directly across the street."

She nods. "I see now."

I move back to where I was standing. Erin jumps off the couch and runs for the door.

"Puppy!" She says. Madison comes walking in, and she shakes all the melted snow off of her, spraying water al over the walls. I cringe. Peeta comes in behind her.

"I'll clean it up, I promise." He says. He sees my Mom then, and I see his face register shock for only half a second, and then he looks happy.

Slowly, he looks in between the two of us.

"I'll just...go upstairs-"

"No!" I blurt, and then I slam my hand over my mouth. Peeta raises his eyebrows.

"There's no need for you to go upstairs." Mom says calmly. "This is your home. If Katniss wants you to stay, by all means, stay."

Peeta studies my face for a moment. He reads it right away. He knows I'm nervous, I really want my Mommy back, I'm sick to my stomach and I really don't want to be left alone with her.

Slowly, he nods. "I'll stay."

Erin disappeared somewhere. I can hear her squealing upstairs with Madison.

I hear Madison come barreling down the stairs and I hear the soft patter of Erin's feet, and then multiple thumps, and then a scream, and then she's at the bottom of the stairs, screaming. I run over to her and pick her up. I start checking for injuries. I don't think she's hurt, I just think it hurt when she fell.

"What hurts?" I ask. She points to her belly. It's all red, but other than that, she's fine. She rests her head on my shoulder and keeps crying.

"She's probably going to bruise." Mom says. "Her arm is red. She probably hit it when she feel. You should get her some ice. It should help." Peeta brushes past me to the kitchen. He comes back with ice in a plastic bag, wrapped in paper towels. I snap my fingers and point at the ground so Madison lays down in between the two couches. I get Erin's doll off the floor where she left it, and then I grab the fluffy blanket off of the back of the couch and lay is down on the floor. I lay Erin on top of it when her head on Maddie's belly. Peeta hands me the ice. I put it on Erin's arm and wrap her up with the other parts of the blanket. I leave out her good arm and she wraps it around her doll and sticks her thumb in her mouth.

As I'm getting off the floor, Erin lets out a loud whine and says, "stay with me Mommy!"

My eyes look at my Mom, wide, panicked. She shrugs.

"I suspected as such." She says.

I sit down in front of Erin and she lifts her legs and puts them on my lap. She shifts her head on Maddie's belly, and sticks her thumb back in her mouth.

"Daddy too." Erin says. "Peas."

Peeta sits down beside me. Erin kicks at the blanket and loosens it up rough to put one foot on my lap and the other foot on his lap.

Her thumb goes back in her mouth again, but this time, she falls asleep.

"Madge misses you." Mom says. I look at her. "We all do, but...Madge brings you up every chance she gets. You know, she won't even go to the beach anymore."

"Madge loves the beach."

"I know." She sighs. "So do you."

"I haven't been to the beach in a long time." I smile tiredly. "I miss surfing."

"I know you do."

We drift into silence.

"Mom?" I whisper. My throat is tight and I want to cry. I look at her and I know my eyes are brimmed with tears. She looks like she's going to start crying too. "Do you hate me?" Peeta kisses my temple and starts rubbing my back. I know he isn't going to speak unless he is spoken to, but he's there for support.

"No." Mom says. "I don't hate you."

"Well then...why'd you do it?" I ask. "The only people that have the same blood and will talk to me are Kale and Haymitch!"

She doesn't look surprised in the slightest. "I know. I know honey, I'm sorry. I don't know why I did it. I was just angry. I mean...Reed called me and he was all frantic and he said he didn't know where you were. Then Madge said you'd went on a vacation. We used to talk every day. I didn't think you would just leave without telling me and I mean...your my little girl. For me not to know where you are...I panicked. I started saying stuff I didn't mean." She looks at Peeta. "I feel like an idiot. You are not immature, you didn't move out too soon, your not rushing anything. Your an adult. Your perfectly capable of leaving your house without telling me. I'm sorry sweetie. I'm so sorry. I think I shunned you because I didn't want to see you because I felt so bad about what I'd done. Now look what I've missed." She gesture at Erin, who is sleeping peacefully. "And I bet your married now, too. You always said you weren't getting kids until you got married."

"Yeah um...we eloped..."

She sighs. "It sucks, because you couldn't even tell me because of me. It's all my fault. Honey, I am so sorry. Hell, Peeta, I owe you an apology too. I know you love Katniss, and I know you've had to watch her in pain. Also, I'm sorry for Gale and Reed and what they did. They're sorry too, they just haven't told you yet."

"What about the rest of the family?"

"They don't hate you, they just go along with what I do. The only people that don't really listen to me are Kale and Haymitch and...well, you. You were never really a good listener." I chuckle, and so does Peeta. We're all quiet for a while.

"So...we're good?" I ask.

"Yes." She says.

I let out a sigh of relief and get up, being careful not to wake Erin. She gets up too, and I go over to her and throw my arms around her neck. She wraps hers around my waist and whisper, "I love you honey."

"I love you too." I whisper back. Her fingers are running down my hair, like how she would do when I was little and I would just wake up.

"Okay." Mom says. "I had a hotel because I flew in at three this morning. I slept for a few hours and became restless. Now I have to leave because my flight it at nine thirty and it's seven thirty." She says. "I want you to promise me you'll come visit."

"I promise. Don't tell anyone that we're married and that we have Erin, especially not Madge."

"I won't." She says. Peeta gets up and they hug, and then she hugs me agains and kisses my temple and leaves.

"I want to talk to you about something." Peeta says when she's long gone.

"Okay...go ahead."

"My Dad opened a bakery in Florida." He says. "In Ponce Inlet, actually."

Ponce Inlet, Florida. That's where I grew up. That's where my Mother, brother, cousin, and best friends live.

"And?" I ask.

"He wants to give it to us. He thinks it'll mean a lot to you."

"And?"

"And you made up with your family…we both grew up on the beach…I miss the beach. I would _love_ to raise our daughter there." He looks at Erin. "We could move to Ponce Inlet. You could be with your family, our family actually, your best friend…you know, Madge and Gale and Reed and Johanna all found houses on the street you grew up on. I was doing some research and…there's a house for sale um…it's 31 Inlet Point Blvd. I did some calculations and…we can easily afford it."

"That's a really nice, really expensive house."

"A house we can afford. You can renovate the bakery…make it look how you want."

I'm quiet for a long time. "Alright."

"Honestly, I can't fathom raising our kids out here in the idle of nowhere. We can't even go get the mail without getting fully dressed first."

"What about Kale?"

He shrugs. "He can come."

"What if he doesn't want to come?"

"He's eighteen." He says. "I think he'll be okay. Besides, my family is here. They can check up on him. I think we would've moved to Florida anyways. It's best to do it now while Erin is still young."

"Let's surprise them…and we just buy the house and show up one day."

"I think we should buy the house, and then leave March first. Are we taking the furniture?"

"Yes." I say. "That house has been or sale for years. Madge and I broke into it when we were sixteen. The door was unlocked. It's a really nice house, but the furniture is for a Grandmother."

"Alright." He says. "We need to pack everything back up." He stands up and scoops Erin in his arms. "Also, we need a baby gate. I don't want that happening again."

"I agree." I say. "We're painting parts of the house. Out by the pool there's this vomit yellow piss color and it's the most revolting thing I've ever seen."

He wrinkles his nose.

"What color should we paint it?" he asks.

"Um," I think for a while, picturing the pool area. "Let's do a soft yellow or a robin blue. Which one do you think?"

He thinks for a while. "A robin blue, but a light shade of it."

"Okay." I smile.

**If you want a photo of Erin, you can kik me. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

We're in Florida. It feels wonderful outside. We just got in the state. I have Erin in my truck and I'm towing Peeta's car on a trailer so he can drive the U-Haul.

He doesn't remember where he's going, so I cut him off. We're in Jacksonville and I know how to get home from here. Erin's window is down and she's in her car seat. Madison is in the front seat. Erin is exhausted and she's out cold, her sippy cup filled with juice held limply in her hand.

The ride from here to home is two hours. I shut of the GPS (finally) and follow the route I have memorized all the way to my street. I see right away that every one of my family members are home. I park in the street and Peeta parks in the driveway.

Erin wakes up. "We here?"

"We're here."

"Yay!" she says. I unbuckle and open up the passenger door to let Maddie out. She leaps out. I get out and go to Erin and unbuckle her.

Peeta's out, too. I move, so I can't be seen by anyone from my family, especially since the door to the house that Madge lives at (I can tell by her car and Gale's car) is opening.

"Someone's leaving Madge's house." I whisper to Peeta.

Erin is wearing a bluish-purple sundress with white sandals.

She puts her tiny hands on her hips. "HI!" she screams.

"Dammit." I mutter.

"I LIVE NOW!"

"You do?"

Fuck, that's Madge. I look at Peeta.

"YES MOMMY AND DADDY TOO! THEY'RE HERE FOR PEOPLE!"

I get down on my knees and look under the truck.

"Shit." I stand up. "She's coming over here."

"Where are your parents, honey?" Madge asks.

She's right in front of the truck now.

I should just expose myself. I look at Peeta and just when Erin is opening her mouth to tell her, I step behind her.

Madge's eyes get huge. She looks at Erin, and then me, and then Peeta, and then me again. Her breathing gets heavy, and then she screams, bursts into tears, and flings herself at me. I stumble. She's _sobbing_. I hug her back.

"MAGDE?" Gale shouts. Obviously, he heard her scream, and now he's trying to find her.

She's crying loud, and I know he can hear her.

"SHE'S HERE!" Erin starts jumping up and down.

"Well look at this shit." Johanna says. Madge pulls away and hugs Peeta. She turns to me then.

"She called you and Peeta Mommy and Daddy."

"Yes…about that-"

Reed literally comes out of nowhere and picks me up and spins me and then kisses me cheek and hugs me. "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Can you put me down now?"

"Right." He sets me on my feet. "I fucked up man. I'm sorry. Can we put our differences behind us?" he sticks his hand out.

"Of course." Peeta shakes it. Gale picks me up and spins me around for nearly five minutes before he sets me down.

"Sorry Catnip." He says.

I start to fall, but someone, one of the boys, puts their hands on my shoulders.

The dizziness begins to fade.

"Sorry Catnip, Peeta, for everything. I went way out of line."

"It's alright. I mutter.

"Brainless." Johanna puts her hand on my shoulder and then she _hugs_ me.

"Jo." I say. It's awkward and lasts a few seconds.

"Why did she call you and Peeta Mommy and Daddy?" Madge asks impatiently.

"Well…Peeta and I eloped and then…we adopted her."

"Does Mom know about this?" Reed asks.

"Yes." I say.

"What's your name?" Reed asks.

"I'm Erin Lily." She says. "She's my mommy." She tugs on my sundress. "He's my daddy." She tucks on Peeta's shorts.

"I'm your Uncle Reed." Reed squats down in front of her.

"What's mean?"

"What?" he asks.

"She wants to know what that means." I say.

"It means that I am your Mommy's brother." Reed explains.

She sticks her thumb in her mouth and nods. "I'm huggy."

"What's that mean?" Madge asks.

"Huggy means hungry." Peeta says

I hear a door shut and two seconds later, Mom joins the group. She hugs Peeta and I.

"I'm huggy!" Erin says.

"Let's go eat." Mom says, and she picks up Erin.

"Who _are_ you?" Erin asks.

"This is your Nana." I explain. "This is my Mommy."

"We go eat Nana?"

"Yes, let's go eat."

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to see what I need to get from Home Depot."

"I'm not hungry." Peeta says.

"Neither am I." Reed agrees, and Gale nods.

"I'll help Katniss." Madge says.

"I'll help you." Johanna says to Mom.

Mom, Johanna, and Erin walk away.

"How about you guys help me get my truck off of the trailer." Peeta says.

"Sure."

"I'll help you." Madge says. We go inside, and Madison follows us. The entire inside of the house, aside from the kitchen which I love and decide to leave, is a fugly pea green. I mean the living room, the bedrooms, the hallways. Literally every inch of this house is pea green aside from the kitchen and the bathrooms. I hate all the bathrooms though. It's all black tiles and the toilets are black and the showers are black and everything is just black.

"They renovated the place from when we broke in here." Madge says. "And I only like the kitchen."

"I agree." I say.

The kitchen is white with blackish gray marble counters. The stove is black. The controls are touch screen and on the stovetop, and the burners are there, too. The refrigerator is stainless steel and has the water thing.

"After they get the truck off, let's make them go out and then let's go get everything we need. We can be done before they get home.

She nods. We start writing down the colors we'll need in the notes in our phone. We end up making a list of everything we need for upstairs and downstairs

I go out and see the pool needs a lot of work, so I write down everything w need for that, and then I walk outside.

"Why don't you guys go clubbing?" I ask.

All three boys look at us.

"What?" Peeta asks.

"Go clubbing."

They hesitate.

"Are you sure?" Gale asks.

"Yes." Madge says.

"Go clubbing." I say. Peeta's suspicious.

"Why?"

"Because." I say.

Honestly, I want them to go clubbing so I can do what I want and not make them, especially Peeta, constantly trying to help. It's going to annoy the shit out of me.

"Does the house need a lot of work?" Peeta asks, making a grab for the list on my phone. I shove it in my bra.

"Yes."

"Don't think I won't go in there. I've done it hundreds of other times."

"Like an elevator." Madge says, and we all start laughing.

"Please just…I want to surprise you."

"Let's go look at everything and see how hideous the house is, and then we'll come back and go clubbing." Reed says. The boys disappear, and they come back a few minutes later looking disgusted.

"What's the budget?" I ask Peeta.

He shrugs. "You'll know when to stop." He leans down and kisses me. "Don't expect me home before three in the morning."

"Don't fuck any other girl and we're good."

"I won't even _think_ about it."


	17. Chapter 17

I find out when we get back it everything we could possibly need, that there is a dock I our backyard that leads us right out to the beach. Mom takes Erin out there with the sheers and clips the entire path. From our house on the balcony, you can see the ocean.

Mom and Johanna start panting the inside of the house. Madge and I start disconnecting the bathroom and reconnecting everything and painting the whole thing, starting with Peeta and I's bathroom.

We put down tan, off white, and light brown tile down in the bathroom, even where the shower is. Jo and Mom are working fast so they're already done painting every room. We shout orders to each other and Mom moves to the half bathroom downstairs and Johanna goes to the other full bathroom, which will be Erin's.

Madge and I put down all the tile. The floors are good hardwood, cherry red wood. I like it enough to not change it. Madge and I start on the second bathroom and it takes us hours to do that and then we go back to the first bathroom and put the shower in, which is hard because we have to rewire the water and everything. We put in the new cabinets, the sinks, and toilet, and then we leave it with the window open. We've had the windows open because the fumes from the paint can get overwhelming. Madge goes to Mom's bathroom to help her and I go and finish the one we started earlier.

It's nearing midnight.

"Katniss, it's getting late. You can't sleep here tonight anyway because of the fumes. I think we need to call it a night." Mom says.

"Yeah, I'm tired." I agree.

"You can sleep at my house." Madge says.

"I'll take Erin. The boys are going to be drunk anyways."

….a….

"Katniss." Madge shakes me awake. She's crying.

"What?"

"The boys never came back."

"They didn't?" I sit up.

"No." she looks scared. "I checked all of the houses, even yours. I called all of the guys too and didn't get an answer."

I get up and walk out of the house. Madge follows me and I get in my truck. Johanna comes running and joins us.

"I think I know where they are." I say.

It's not light out yet. Actually, it's four thirty in the morning. Either something happened or they're completely wasted and forgot they said they'd be home by three. I'm going with the latter.

I drive down the street and head to the best bar in this town.

Its jam packed.

"Looks like it's way too packed for us to get in." Johanna says.

"Oh, we're going in." I say. "We'll sneak in."

I put my hair up in a whore bun, adjust my boobs so they're popping out of my sundress, and get out of the car. My wallet is still in there from earlier.

This is clearing wild. The security guard looks me up and down, and then his eyes land on my chest, and he lets me in. I know the boys are here because Peeta's truck is here. I pull Johanna and Madge in after me.

"Resist the temptation. We find the boys and get the hell out of here, got it?" they both nod, and we go our separate ways. Guys try and stop me, but I shove all of them.

I see Peeta then, walking around with a beer, talking loudly, completely wasted, laughing at everything. I hide behind someone and observe. A girl approaches him, and he says "No!"

She laughs. "Come on." She tugs his hand.

"I'm married to my wife! No!"

I smirk and grab his hand.

"No!" he says. He whips around to face me and his jaw drops. He tosses his beer at the wall. "What are you doing here?" he laughs and kisses me, sloppily.

"I'm trying to find you." I say.

"I'm right here!" he says. "You know, I really want to fuck you. Let's go to the bathroom."

I want to, but I resist.

"No." I tug at his hand. "We're going home."

"Can we fuck at home?" he demands.

"I need you to help me find Reed and Gale."

"But I want to fuck." He says. His arms lock around my waist.

"No, Peeta."

"Yes, Katniss." He starts kissing me again.

"No." I try and get out of his arms, but he isn't letting go.

"Yes." He says.

"No!" I shove him, hard. He stumbles, releasing me, and then he falls and cuts his hands on the shards of his beer glass.

"Hey!" Someone shouts at me. Some whore. "I like him! Don't do that!"

"He's my husband." I hiss.

"I don't give a fuck who he is!"

Peeta gets right back up and grabs me again.

"_Please_?"

"No!" I say.

I know he's intoxicated. He doesn't know what he's saying. He's not going to remember any of this, but…he's scaring me. It's hard to _not_ panic when you were almost raped. The thought of Peeta wanting sex so bad that he rapes me terrifies me.

I never thought I would be afraid of those blue eyes, but right now, I just want him to leave me alone.

"Yes." He says. "Yes. We're married. You have to do what I say!"

Gale comes out of nowhere. He isn't drunk in the slightest, and Madge is attaches to his arm. Reed is with Jo, behind them, completely wasted.

"She said no." Gale pulls my away from Peeta. "Let's go."

…..a…..

I know he's awake. I locked myself in the bathroom and ended up throwing up four times until I fell asleep.

I hear whispers downstairs.

"Will you at least tell me why she's mad at me?" Peeta asks.

"Fuck Peeta, you were going to rape her, alright?" Madge snaps.

Silence.

I pull my knees against my chest and unlock the door and then sit back down in front of the toilet.

"I what?" Peeta asks.

"You wanted to have sex and she was telling you it's time to go home and you wouldn't stop. She pushed you and cut your hand and you just wouldn't stop. You kept kissing her and…she's pretty upset." Gale says.

Peeta's quiet for a really long time. I lie down on the floor and press my ear against the tile. I relock the door, and the wait.

"God, I feel terrible. Where is she?"

"She's in the bathroom upstairs. She threw up four times and she won't open the door for anyone."

"I should just leave. I can't believe I did that. God, I hate myself."

"I don't think she hates you." That's Mom. "I think she's just…afraid right now. I bet she'd want to see you though."

"She's right, Peeta." Madge whispers.

"Should I go up there?" he asks.

"Yes." Madge says

"What if she…rejects me?"

"Then you try again in a few hours. She loves you Peeta." Mom replies.

"Do you guys hate me?"

"No. we know how you feel about this. You were drunk. It's okay."

I hear his footsteps on the stairs

He stops suddenly. "What if she killed herself?"

"Your overreacting." Gale says. "Just go up there."

I sit up and pull my legs against my chest. I unlock the door again and wait.

I hear him right outside the door.

"Katniss." He whispers. "I'm sorry. Can we…talk about this?" I can hardly hear him because he's being so quiet. I hug my legs tighter and squeeze my eyes shut tightly.

I love him so much that the thought of not opening that door just hurts.

Slowly, I raise to my feet and grab the doorknob. I shut my eyes and open the door just a crack to look at him with one eye.

The look on his face breaks my heart. He seriously looks like he's going to cry.

I open the door the rest of the way, and then I step forward and wrap my arms around his neck. He seems shocked, but either way, his arms lock around my waist. He buries his head in my shoulder. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll never drink again, I swear."

"Shh." I whisper softly. "It's okay. It's not your fault. I was just in shock. I'm okay. I know I'm hard to resist."

He cuts off, and then he starts laughing. It starts out quiet a first, and then he's hysterical, and I'm laughing with him.

When he's upset, I always make him laugh. It works every time.

He slips to the floor, and I sit with him, and we just laugh until we cry, and then he pulls me close.

"I;m sorry." He says.

"Peeta, it's okay." I whisper.

…..a…

All of us girls move the furniture in and set up the entire house. It still smells like paint, but everything is done and ready. Peeta keeps complaining that I'm not letting him help so I send him, Erin and the boys to the store to get the groceries. By seven at night, we have the house completely unpacked.

"You're like Effie." Mom says. "When she and Effie moved in she had the whole house unpacked in two hours."

The boys get back and I go outside before they can go in.

"Please?" Peeta begs.

"Nope. I'm almost done. Just give me a couple of minutes."

He sighs. "Fine."

I kiss him and then go back in the house. I put all the groceries away and then kick everyone out and mop the house and vacuum everything and clean every inch of everything. We painted the pool area a soft yellow. The living room and hallways are a light tan. The kitchen is the same. The dining room is a light robin blue. Erin's bedroom is light pink with a butterfly rug. Peeta and I's room has a light gray on the wall to the left of the bed, the side with the window, and a soft blue which I had mixed to match Peeta's eye color. The other two walls are white. I think he's going to love it and I want to see if he'll catch on. The spare bedrooms are light brown.

The bathtub in Peeta and I's room is like a giant bowl. It's the same for Erin's room but her tub is her size. The sink in her bathroom has a bottom drawer and you roll it out and it's a stool.

I decide everything is clean, so I put away the supplies and spray air freshener and go outside.

"Now?" Peeta asks.

"Yes." He gets off the ground.

"Wait." Mom says. It's six thirty at night now. The sky is getting dark. "Can I take Erin for the night?"

"You had her last night." I say.

"So?"

I look at Peeta and sigh. "Sure."

"Awesome." She picks up Erin and walks away. After hesitating, everyone else goes home too.

"After I see the house I'm going to bring the U-Haul back. Can you follow me there?"

"Can't we bring that back tomorrow?" I ask.

"If you want."

"I want."

"Okay, we bring it back tomorrow." He says. "Let's go."

I jump on his back and put my hands over his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you trust me?" I whisper sweetly in his ear.

"Yes."

"Good. Walk straight."

He walks. "Stop." I say. "Step up." He does. "Turn slightly to the left."

He does. "Walk straight.

He does.

We walks right into the house. "Stop." I say.

He does. I reach behind me with one arm and shut the front door and lock it.

"Ready?" I whisper.

"Yes.

I hop off of his back, still covering his eyes, and then I move so I can see his face and slowly, I remove my hands. He opens his eyes, and his jaw drops. We even changed the ligting because the old lights sucked.

He starts walking around, and I follow him.

We even got a patio set for the backyard.

"This is wonderful." He says.


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay I'm getting a bit bored with You're Mine Sequel and with this story. I'm going to end this soon, I think. Actually I think the next chapter for You're Mine Sequel will be the ending and this chapter will be the ending for Vienna Two. **

Peeta's making dinner and I'm sitting at the counter watch him.

"Are you sure-"

"I'm good. I don't need help." He shoots across the counter to kiss me, and then he goes back to work.

He serves dinner, and we clean up together, and then I go upstairs and he follows me.

"I'm going to take a bath." I announce. "And so are you." I grab the belt loop of his jeans and pull him into the bathroom with me and start the water.

I sit outside of the tub and wait until he shuts the water off.

"Rules." I say.

"Rules?" he smirks.

"Yes."

"Like?"

"Like…I get to undress you."

"Well then I get to undress you."

"Fair." I smile.

"Is that all?" he asks.

"That's all."

I start taking off his clothes until he's completely naked, and he does the same to me.

…a…

We decided after 'breaking in' the bathroom that it would be wise to break in every room in the entire house, not counting Erin's room and bathroom. We saved our bedroom for last.

We even broke in the dock and the pool.

"Did we miss anything last night?" I snicker.

"Nope." He kisses my cheek. "It's so quiet."

"That's because our baby girl isn't here."

"We haven't been able to see her lately."

"Let's go steal her. We can take her to surf style and get her a bathing suit and then we can take her to the beach."

"I think we should teach her how to longboard." He leans across the counter towards me.

"And I'm going to make her learn to surf."

"What time is it?" he asks. I peek over his shoulder at the stove.

"It's ten."

"Awesome." He says. He serves breakfast and we eat quickly, and then we shower and I get dressed in my white swimsuit and a soft yellow sundress. I leave my hair down and put white sunglasses on my head and then put on flipflops and go down to my Mother's. I walk right in.

"Mom?" I call.

"Momma!" Erin comes flying down the stairs, right into my arms. Mom comes downstairs then.

"I'm taking her." I say. Her face falls, but she nods.

"Alright." She kisses her forehead, and my forehead.

"Bye Nana." Erin grins.

"Bye sweetie."

As I'm walking home with my baby girl running in front of me, I realize how much I've grown in the past two years.

I went from not giving a shit about anything to acing all my tests, graduating high school and college, and then went from that to married with a kid.

I didn't think I was ever going to be successful in life.

I guess I was wrong.

I realize then, as I'm walking in the door, watching my husband pick up my daughter and spin her around that Vienna really does exist. It may be hard to find, but it definitely exists.


End file.
